Equities in Toronto pushed sharply upward by Friday’s closing bell, with investors likely emitting a sigh of relief over inflation possibly slowing down.
The TSX Composite hiked 96.33 points to close Friday and the week at 19,980.91. On the last five session, the index dipped 130 points, or 0.65%.
The Canadian dollar shook off 0.3 cents to 74.76 cents U.S.
Among consumer stocks which starred, Gildan Activewear, up $1.19, or 3.2%, to $38.29, while BRP Inc. zoomed $1.67, or 1.8%, to $83.35.
In communications, BCE accelerated $1.45, or 2.3%, to $63.41, while Rogers registered a gain of $1.04, or 1.8%, to $59.64.
Industrials charged ahead, too, with GFL Environmental hiking $1.27, or 3.6%, to $37.07, while TFI International spiked $3.43, or 2.5%, to $140.01.
Health-care issues ducked back, primarily Canopy Growth, dumping 47 cents, or 8.6%, to $5.00, while Tilray skidded 25 cents, or 4.6%, to $5.16.
In techs, Softchoice dropped 73 cents, or 4.7%, to $14.85, while Converge Tech Solutions fell 18 cents, or 4.3%, to $3.98.
Energy stocks also had a tough time of it, as Topaz Energy faded 75 cents, or 3.1%, to $23.56, while Precision Drilling handed back $1.47, or 1.4%, to $106.36.
It was a full macroeconomic day, as Statistics Canada said its raw materials price index increased 1.3% on a monthly basis in October, and posted a 9.0% year-over-year increase, while its industrial product price index rose 2.4% on a monthly basis in October, and increased 10.1% year over year
What’s more, the agency said non-resident investors reduced their exposure to Canadian securities by $22.3 billion in September, mainly in the form of federal government debt securities and Canadian shares. Meanwhile, Canadian investors acquired $9.6 billion of foreign securities, led by an unprecedented investment in foreign bonds.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange swooned nearly 6.69 points, or 1.2%, to 575.88. On the week, the index shed 23.9 points or nearly 4%.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups gained ground, led by consumer discretionary and communication stocks, each up 1.1%, while industrial stocks strengthened 1%.
The three laggards were weighed most by health-care, sliding 2.1%, information technology, off 0.4%, and energy, 0.03% to the bad.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 rose in afternoon trading Friday as investors assessed tougher language from Federal Reserve speakers and pored over the latest earnings reports.
The Dow Jones Industrials jumped 199.37 points to 33,745.69
The S&P 500 regained 18.78 points to 3,965.34
The NASDAQ climbed out of the red by the closing bell, gaining 1.11 points to 11,146.06.
All of the major averages were on pace for down weeks — the Dow and S&P sit less than 1% below the flat line, while the NASDAQ is lower by 1.8%. All three indexes are positive for the month, however.
Credit Suisse downgraded HP to neutral from outperform on Friday.
Those headwinds include weakening consumer sentiment, pressure on average selling prices as a result of lower demand and better supply, and slower enterprise PC and print demand.
Shares of HP are down about 22% year to date. They capsized seven cents to $29.52.
Ross Stores jumped 10% after a quarterly beat on earnings and revenue. The company was also named by Credit Suisse as its top pick in the off-price retail sector.
Shares jumped 7% after Foot Locker surpassed expectations in its latest quarterly report and raised its full-year forecast.
Carvana dropped 6% after word the company plans to lay off about 1,500 employees, or 8% of its workforce.
Economically speaking, the Conference Board said its Leading Economic Index fell 0.8% in October, bringing its cumulative six-month decline to 3.2%, after rising 0.5% in the previous half-year.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury fell slightly, raising yields to 3.81% from Thursday’s 3.77%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices flopped $2.46 to $79.18 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices doffed $4.30 to $1,748.70 U.S. an ounce.
