Canadian stocks opened slightly higher on the last trading day of the week, as investors digested disappointing U.S. jobs report.
The S&P/TSX composite index was positive 7.95 points to open Friday at 15,338.69
The Canadian dollar dipped 0.03 at 91.67 cents U.S.
Enbridge Inc reported a better-than-expected profit in the second quarter, driven mainly by higher shipment volumes on the Canadian Mainline system. Enbridge shares added 20 cents to $53.65
Canadian Oil Sands Ltd said on Thursday that its second-quarter profit fell by one-fifth on lower production and higher government payments. Canadian Oil Sands shares gained 21 cents to $23.50.
Canada's three biggest telecom firms, BCE Inc, Rogers Communications Inc and Telus Corp, keen to keep shareholders happy with fat dividends, are breaking into businesses ranging from banking to health-care to drive growth as they run out of expansion options and shy away from overseas purchases.
BMO, Cowen and Company cut their target prices on Alamos Gold, whose shares tacked on 42 cents, or 4.3%, to $10.12.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange eked up 0.86 points to 1,002.38
Eight of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher in the early going, as health-care and gold stocks each surged 1.4%, while materials gained 0.8%.
The half-dozen were weighed by information technology and financials, each down 0.3%, and energy stocks, falling 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks were flat in early trading Friday. But after Thursday's huge plunge, flat may be almost as good as up.
The Dow Jones Industrials remained in negative country 25.07 points to 16,583.23, after yesterday’s 300-point-plus plunge.
The S&P 500 eked up 0.42 points to 1,931.09. The NASDAQ composite docked 5.15 points to 4,364.62.
GoPro's debut earnings report failed to impress Wall Street's extreme expectations, driving the gadget maker's stock down 11%.
Iliad dropped 7% in Europe after the French telecom firm made a surprise $15-billion U.S. takeover bid for T-Mobile USA
On the other hand, shares of LinkedIn popped 8% after the social media company posted better-than-expected quarterly results.
Tesla also rose in early trading after Elon Musk's electric car maker reported strong sales and a profit that topped forecasts.
Bally Technologies hit the jackpot as Scientific Games agreed to acquire the slot-machine maker for $3.3 billion U.S. Bally spiked 31% on the buyout, which also sent Scientific Games surging 14%.
Procter & Gamble rallied about 2.5% after posting a solid earnings beat despite shrinking sales. Investors largely overlooked the consumer products giant's tepid outlook for the year.
Burger King marched 2% higher as the fast food chain's earnings beat expectations thanks to slightly higher sales and shrinking expenses.
Other big-name companies also reported earnings, including Clorox and Chevron. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is scheduled to post results after the close.
Employers added 209,000 jobs in July. That was well shy of the 288,000 jobs that were created in June and below the gain of 230,000 jobs predicted by economists.
The weaker-than-expected jobs report could ease fears on Wall Street that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates early next year.
The U.S. government said the unemployment rate ticked up to 6.2% from 6.1%.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries were unchanged, keeping yields at Thursday’s 2.56%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices sank 71 cents to $97.47 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices hiked $12.40 to $1,293.70 U.S. an ounce.
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