Stocks in Toronto traded lower in early action led by declines in health-care and Financial stocks.
The TSX dropped 126.70 points to 19,412.31.
The Canadian dollar shed 0.16 cents to 72.71 cents U.S.
In earnings news -- Hexo Corp. reported a net loss of $11.1 million in its latest quarter, up from a year earlier, when it reported a loss of $690.3 million, which included $616 million in one-time impairment charges.
Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. says it will officially combine with Kansas City Southern Railway Co. on April 14 under a new name, Canadian Pacific Kansas City.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada said the RMPI decreased 0.4% in February and fell 5.2% compared with the same month in 2022. The IPPI index declined 0.8% month over month in February and rose 1.4% year over year.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange shed 1.25 points to 600.95.
Two of the 12 TSX subgroups gained Friday morning with gold higher by 2.34% and material issues up 1.45%.
On the downside, health-care issues were off 1.54%, Consumer Staples stocks shed 1.51% and Financial issues gave back 1.28%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks in the U.S were lower this morning as investors remained concerned with the banking sector after Silicon Valley Bank filed for bankruptcy.
The Dow fell 182 points, or 0.6%. The S&P 500 slid 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.4%.
Credit Suisse shares were down 3.6% after the bank announced that it would borrow up to $50 billion francs (nearly $54 billion) from the Swiss National Bank.
The 10-year yield was at 3.48% early Friday.
WTI crude oil was down 1.5% to trade near $67.30 a barrel.
