Equities in Canada’s biggest centre declined on Friday as weakness in commodity prices fueled a decline in shares of the heavyweight natural resource sectors.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index plummeted 165.62 points, or 1%, in Friday’s first hour at 15,695.30
The Canadian dollar hurtled lower 0.84 cents to 80.72 cents U.S.
Motorola Solutions Inc said on Thursday it would buy Canadian security camera maker Avigilon Corp for $1.2 billion in cash. Still with Avigilon,
Canaccord Genuity cut the rating on its stock to hold from buy. Aviglion shares rumbled higher $4.13, or 18.1%, to $26.95.
CIBC raised the price target on New Flyer Industries to $65.00 from $63.00. New Flyer ducked lower 88 cents, or 1.5%, to $57.50.
National Bank of Canada cut the price target on Saputo to $46.00 from $49.00. Saputo lost 14 cents to $41.11.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dipped 32.73 points, or 3.9%, to 810.91
All 12 TSX subgroups went down in the early going Friday, as health-care weakened 5.4%, materials dropped 1.9%, and energy fell 1.7%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks fell sharply on Friday after a stronger-than-expected jobs report sent interest rates higher.
The Dow Jones Industrial thundered lower 290.7 points, or 1.1%, to 25,896.01, with Exxon Mobil sliding 5.7%.
The S&P 500 settled 26.37 points to 2,795.61, with energy as the worst-performing sector.
The NASDAQ backtracked 74.63 points, or 1%, to 7,311.23, declined 1.1% as a decline in Apple and Alphabet offset a strong gain in Amazon shares.
Wall Street also looked to the release of key corporate earnings. Exxon Mobil reported weaker-than-expected earnings on Friday, sending its stock lower.
Tech giants Apple and Amazon reported quarterly results Thursday after the close. Apple shares, however, traded 2.7% lower. Amazon popped 5.1% to an all-time high. Shares of Google-parent Alphabet, meanwhile, fell 4.9% after its earnings missed expectations.
About halfway through the earnings season, most companies have posted upside surprises. Of the S&P 500 companies that have reported as of Friday morning, 75% have beaten bottom-line expectations, while 79% have surpassed sales estimates
Economically speaking, the U.S. economy added 200,000 jobs in January, according to figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Economists expected growth of 180,000 jobs. Wages, meanwhile, rose 0.3% last month, in line with expectations.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell sharply, raising yields to 2.84% from Thursday’s 2.78%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices sank $1.22 a barrel to $64.58 U.S.
Gold prices $14.00 to $1,333.90 U.S. an ounce.
