Canada’s main stock index fell on Friday, but was still on track for its longest weekly winning streak in more than two decades after hitting a record high on Tuesday.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index tumbled 70.96 points Friday to greet noon at 16,011.13
The Canadian dollar dipped 0.07 cents to 78.80 cents U.S.
The TSX’s nine consecutive weeks of gains, a feat not seen since 1996 when it rose for 13 straight weeks, was fueled in large part by energy stocks that profited from a nearly 25% rise in U.S. crude oil prices.
On Friday, Manulife Financial Corp was the most influential drag on the index, falling 1.7% to $27.01. Four of the index’s five heftiest negative drivers were bank stocks, with the financial subgroup slipping
Offsetting some of the declines was TSX operator, TMX Group Ltd, which rose 0.8% to $71.01 after posting a better-than-expected quarterly profit.
TransCanada Corp was up 1.1 percent at $62.42 to lead the gainers.
Industrials also added some pressure, as Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers dropped 7.5% to $33.08 and CAE lost 3.7% to $22.04 after both companies reported weaker-than-expected results.
Hydro One shares fell 0.8% to $22.79 as third-quarter profit fell.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange lost 1.58 points to 791.62
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower midday, with gold, financials and materials each off 0.9%
The five gainers were led by information technology, up 1%, health-care better by 0.9%, and telecoms surging 0.7%.
ON WALLSTREET
The major U.S. stock indexes traded slightly lower on Friday as they threatened to snap multi-week winning streaks as tech stocks pulled back.
The Dow Jones industrial average faded 48.42 points to 23,413.52, with Intel as the biggest decliner. But a 1.5% gain in Disney shares capped losses in the 30-stock index.
The S&P 500 declined 4.26 points to 2,580.36, with health care as the biggest declining sector. Coty was the worst-performing stock in the index, falling 5.1%.
The NASDAQ Composite dropped 1.66 points to 6,748.39
The Dow and S&P 500 were on track to snap an eight-week winning; the NASDAQ was on pace to end a six-week winning streak.
For the week, tech stocks are down 0.4%.Tech has been the best-performing sector this year. Stocks have also been pressured by fears that a corporate tax cut could be delayed.
Nvidia posted earnings per share and revenue that easily beat analyst expectations. The company's stock rose 4% and was the best performer in the S&P 500.
Other chip makers, including Micron and Advanced Micro Devices, also saw their shares rise. The semiconductor space has been on fire this year, up more than 40% in 2017.
The retail sector also saw positive earnings surprises, with J.C. Penney shares surging 16% on stronger-than-expected quarterly results.
Nordstrom's results also beat expectations, but the stock fell slightly on a bigger-than-expected decline in same-store sales, a key metric for retailers.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note dropped sharply, raising yields to 2.39% from Thursday’s 2.33%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gave back 34 cents a barrel to $56.83 U.S.
Gold prices faltered $11.60 an ounce to $1,275.90 U.S.
