The Toronto Stock Exchange moved ahead slightly Friday, though weakness in commodities and disappointment from bank earnings held off any major gains.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 4.63 points to finish Friday at 14,474.58
The Canadian dollar moved down 0.39 cents to 87.47 cents U.S.
TSX financial stocks were mixed after Scotiabank profits weakened in the fourth quarter as it recognized severance expenses for a recently announced downsizing and other items. The bank's net income fell 14% from last year to $1.438 billion.
Scotiabank shares fell $1.33, or 2%, to $66.25.
National Bank boosted its profits a modest 3% to $330 million and said its quarterly dividend will rise by 4% to 50 cents per common share with the next payment. Its shares were off 59 cents to $49.81.
The merger between Tim Hortons Inc. and Burger King Worldwide Inc. was approved late Thursday by the federal government, with a list of stipulations that include a five-year promise on jobs for employees at its restaurant locations and a continuation of its current community support levels.
Tim Hortons shares gained 1.7%, or $1.62, to $97.01.
Among energy issues, Imperial Oil faded 63 cents to $52.30
Among golds, Goldcorp dropped 35 cents to $22.39.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported this morning that Canada's economy lost more than 10,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate inched up to 6.6%
Moreover, the agency reported that our merchandise imports increased 0.5% to $44.8 billion in October. Exports edged up 0.1% to $44.9 billion. As a result, Canada's trade surplus with the world narrowed from $307 million in September to $99 million in October.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gave back 5.39 points to 701.99
The 14 Toronto subgroups were evenly split between gainers and losers, as information technology moved up 2.4%, consumer discretionary stocks soared 1.2%, and metals and mining gained 1.1%.
The seven laggards were weighed mostly by gold, off 2.1%, utilities, down 0.9%, and real-estate, off 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks rose on Friday, lifting benchmarks into uncharted terrain, as investors embraced a stronger-than-forecast November payrolls report as backing the view the economy can handle rate hikes by the Federal Reserve in 2015.
The Dow Jones Industrials leaped 58.69 points to end the day and the week at 17,958.79, with JPMorgan Chase leading blue-chip gains that included 16 of 30 components.
The S&P 500 gained 3.45 points to 2,075.37, with financials pacing sector gains, as higher interest rates would boost bank earnings, and utilities performed most poorly among its 10 major industry groups.
The NASDAQ index added 11.32 points to 4,780.76
The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.8%, with non-farm payrolls posting their 10th consecutive month above a 200,000 reading.
Another report Friday had orders for U.S. factory goods falling 0.7% in October.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries weakened, raising yields to 2.31% from Thursday’s 2.26%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dipped $1.21 to $65.60 U.S.
Gold prices fell $16.70 at $1,191.00 U.S.
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