Stocks were flat leading up to noon hour EST on Friday, as investors breathed sighs of relief over the world geopolitical situation, and digested employment figures from the month before.
The TSX Composite Index retreated 1.03 points to greet noon at 17,234.54
The Canadian dollar gained 0.06 cents to 76.61 cents U.S.
The largest percentage gainer on the TSX was Novagold
Resources, which jumped 84 cents, or 7.8%, to $11.58. Its gains were
followed by First Quantum Minerals, which rose 38 cents, or 3.2%, to $12.45, after TD Securities upgraded the miner's shares.
Aurora Cannabis fell 22 cents, or 8.9%, the most on the TSX, to $2.20 after Piper Sandler lowered its rating on the cannabis producer to underweight from neutral.
The second biggest decliner on the main index was Hexo, down eight cents, or 3.9%, to $1.86
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that the economy created 35,000 jobs in December, a jump of 0.2% from the month before. The unemployment rate fell 0.3 percentage points to 5.6%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 2.92 points to 580.59
The 12 TSX subgroups were evenly divided midday. Gold increased 1.7%, while materials took on 1.4%, and utilities improved 0.5%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by health-care, down 1.2%, while consumer discretionaries doffed 0.9%, and energy fell 0.7%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks reversed from record highs on Friday as investors digested weaker-than-expected jobs data following a volatile week chalk full of geopolitical concerns.
The Dow Jones Industrials slumped 102.65 points to 28,854.25. Earlier in the session, the 30-stock average broke above 29,000 for the first time ever.
The S&P 500 lost 4.72 points to 3,269.95
The NASDAQ fell 16.17 points to 9,187.25
Through Thursday’s close, the S&P 500 was up 1.2% for the week. The Dow soared 1.1% while the NASDAQ had risen 2%.
Boeing shares dropped more than 1.5% to lead the Dow lower. Losses in the S&P 500 financials and industrial sectors offset gains from real estate and utilities.
The U.S. economy added 145,000 jobs in December. Economists expected the U.S. economy to have added 160,000 jobs last month.
Wages also disappointed, growing by just 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Economists had forecast a gain of 3.1%. December was also the first month since July 2018 that wages grew by less than 3% from the year before.
Prices for the 10-Year U.S. Treasury regained ground, dropping yields to 1.82% from Thursday’s 1.86%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices ditched 40 cents to $59.16 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices added $7.40 to $1,561.70 U.S. an ounce.
