CORRECTS U.S. BOND NUMBERS
Canada's main stock index opened lower on Friday as shares of gold miners fell, tracking prices of the precious metal.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 30.68 points to start Friday at 16,298.28
The Canadian dollar ducked 0.36 cents at 75.94 cents U.S.
Eight Capital raised the target price on Nevsun Resources to $5.00 from $4.75. Nevsun shares docked four cents to $4.36.
Desjardins cut the price target on Transat A.T. to $15.00 from $18.00. Transat shares moved ahead 13 cents, or 1.7%, to $7.77.
On the economic ledger, Statistics Canada reported manufacturing sales fell 1.3% to $56.2 billion in April, following two consecutive monthly increases. Sales in the petroleum and coal products and transportation equipment industries accounted for much of the decrease in April. Excluding these two industries, manufacturing sales rose 0.4%.
The agency also stated that foreign investment in Canadian securities totalled $9.1 billion in April, up from $6.4 billion in March. At the same time, Canadian investors reduced their holdings of foreign securities by $652 million, on large sales of US shares.
Resales of Canadian homes fell 0.1% in May from April to the lowest level in more than five years, the Canadian Real Estate Association said on Friday.
CREA also said actual sales, not seasonally adjusted, fell 16.2% from a year earlier, while the group’s Home Price Index was up 1% from May 2017.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slid 0.48 points to 757.57
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were negative, as gold slipped 1.5%, materials deducted 1.4%, and energy proved 1% less energetic.
The four gainers were led by health-care, up 0.8%, consumer discretionary, up 0.7%, and utilities, ahead 0.6%. Information technology shares were unchanged.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks dropped at Friday's open after the Trump administration said it will impose a 25% charge on up to $50 billion in Chinese goods.
The Dow Jones Industrials swooned 175.01 points to 25,000.30, with Caterpillar and Boeing as the worst-performing stocks in the index.
The S&P 500 lost 11.4 points to 2,771.09, as tech and industrials lagged.
The NASDAQ retreated 20.57 points to 7,740.47
In a statement Friday, President Donald Trump said the measures would affect Chinese goods "that contain industrially significant technologies," without specifying those products. He added that the action comes "in light of China's theft of intellectual property and technology and its other unfair trade practices."
Trump also said the U.S. would impose more tariffs on Chinese goods if China retaliates with duties of its own on American products.
China promptly responded to the Trump administration's announcement, with the Chinese Commerce Ministry saying it will implement tariffs on the same scale as the U.S.
Shares of Boeing and Caterpillar both dropped more than 1.5% following the news. The two stocks are highly sensitive to increasing trade tensions because a large chunk of their business comes from overseas.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury were higher, lowering yields to 2.90% from Thursday’s 2.94%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices recovered 31 cents to $66.95 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices jumped $5.20 at $1,306.50 U.S. an ounce.
