Canada's main stock index opened moderately higher on Friday, though broader tech weakness on Wall Street overshadowed upbeat AI demand signals from Micron and Qualcomm, with falling crude oil prices adding further pressure.
The TSX Composite Index gained 44.73 points at the open Friday at 34,894.94. On the week so far, the index has increased 37 points, or 0.1%.
The Canadian dollar regained 0.12 cents to 70.54 cents U.S.
Canada and Japan are working on a range of mining projects, including potential joint stockpiling. Federal Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu told Reuters, as Japan moves to diversify supplies of critical minerals and reduce dependence on China.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange picked up 3.01 points to 894.39. The index is down on the week so far, however, 56 points, or 5.9%.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher at the open Friday, led by gold, ahead 2%, materials, strengthening 1.6%, and real-estate, better by 0.8%.
The three laggards were energy, sliding 0.8%, while financials and telecoms each dragged 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 was relatively unchanged on Friday as OpenAI is reportedly considering delaying its IPO and as a selloff in tech gathered pace amid mounting concerns over the rising cost of artificial intelligence infrastructure.
The Dow gained 77.54 points to 51,998.16.
The much-broader index revived 9.28 points to 7,366.77.
The NASDAQ fell 22.65 points to 25,335.95.
Chip stocks were weaker after a New York Times report that OpenAI is considering delaying its IPO to next year because of SpaceX’s poor performance following its debut and overall volatility in AI-related shares.
The report raised concerns about “sustainability of their infrastructure spending given the delay in funding from the capital markets,” wrote JPMorgan traders in a note.
The OpenAI IPO delay “could slow the pace of infrastructure spending,” said Adam Crisafulli of Vital Knowledge.
Shares of Micron Technology declined 2%, as did Advanced Micro Devices and Intel. Additionally, software stock Oracle dropped more than 1%.
Consumer sentiment rose but was still at low levels as June drew to a close while longer-term inflation expectations plunged, the University of Michigan reported Thursday.
The university’s Surveys of Consumers saw the headline sentiment index at 49.5, just above the 49.0 consensus estimate from Dow Jones but 10.5% above the May reading.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury forged ahead, lowering yields to 4.38% from Thursday’s 4.40%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices tumbled $2.62 to $69.30 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices hopped $50.50 to $4,098.10. U.S. an ounce.
