Stocks in Canada’s largest market had increased their gains by noon on Thursday, largely due to strength in tech and industrial issues.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index had jumped 75.9 points to greet noon at 15,702.63
The Canadian dollar dropped 0.30 cents at 75.12 cents U.S.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada said manufacturing sales declined for the third consecutive month, down 1.3% to $56.4 billion in December on lower sales of petroleum and coal products. Excluding petroleum, manufacturing sales declined 0.3%.
The agency also said new housing prices were unchanged at the national level for the fifth consecutive month in December.
New home builders in 17 of the 27 census metropolitan areas surveyed reported flat or lower prices in December. Prices at the national level were largely unchanged throughout 2018.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange faded 2.44 points to 607.55
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher, with information technology spiking 3.4%, industrials up 1.4%, and energy better by 0.9%.
The three laggards were consumer discretionary stocks, down 0.8%, health-care, sliding 0.4%, and financials, poorer by 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell on Thursday on the release of much weaker-than-expected retail sales data as well as lingering uncertainty around U.S.-China trade talks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average came off their morning lows, but still lost 83.23 points to 25,460.04, led by losses in Coca-Cola.
The S&P 500 subtracted 4.7 points to 2,748.33, as the consumer staples and discretionary sectors lagged.
The NASDAQ Composite gained 9.26 points to 7,429.64
Shares of Groupon and Dick's Sporting Goods underperformed.
Retail sales fell 1.2% in December, marking their biggest monthly drop since September 2009, according to The Commerce Department. The department also said retail sales fell 0.9% in December when excluding gasoline station sales.
Among retail companies, shares of Lands' End and J.C. Penney underperformed.
The data were enough to dampen market sentiment as investors continue to follow news of the U.S.-China trade talks. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that talks were "going very well" as both sides look to reach an agreement before an early March deadline.
Furthermore, the South China Morning Post reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet with U.S. delegates on Friday, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury jumped, lowering yields to 2.67% from Wednesday’s 2.71%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices recovered 23 cents to $54.13 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices lost 80 cents to $1,314.30 U.S. an ounce.
