Stocks in Toronto perked – albeit slightly – to word that jobless in Canada remained steady in the last month of 2014.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 27.39 points to open Friday at 14,481.11
The Canadian dollar shed 0.29 cents to 84.24 cents U.S.
RBC raised the price target on CGI Group to $53.00 from $47.00, with an outperform rating. CGI powered ahead 43 cents, or nearly 1%, to $45.30.
National Bank Financial raised the target price on Air Canada to $15.00 from $12.00. Shares in the Maple Leaf airline gained 22 cents, or 1.8%, to $12.41.
Dundee cut the rating on New Gold Inc. to neutral from buy. New Gold shares took on 13 cents, or 2.4%, to $5.50.
Dundee cut the rating on Thompson Creek Metals to neutral from buy. Thompson shares lost seven cents to $1.92.
On the economic ledger, Statistics Canada reported this morning that the economy lost 4,300 jobs in December as gains in full-time work were offset by losses in part time. The unemployment rate remained at 6.6%.
The agency also said building permits were issued worth $6.6 billion in November, down 13.8% from October, following two consecutive monthly increases.
StatsCan attributes the drop to widespread declines in both the non-residential and residential sectors in several provinces.
Moreover, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported that housing starts in Canada came in at 192,047 units in December compared to 194,807 in November.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange faded 1.79 points to 685.69
Eight of 14 Toronto subgroups were lower, most notably, financials, down 0.7%, metals and mining, sliding 0.5%, and health-care, off 0.3%.
The half-dozen gainers were led by gold, up 2.9%, materials, better by 1.3%, and information technology, moving forward 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks dropped on Friday as the December jobs report topped expectations but hourly earnings declined.
The Dow Jones Industrials eased 85.93 points to 17,821.94, after Thursday’s 300-point-plus leap.
The S&P 500 subtracted 7.27 points to 2,054.87, with technology the best performing and consumer discretionary the greatest laggard among its 10 major sectors.
The NASDAQ index fell 7.14 points to 4,729.05.
The figures from the U.S. Labor Department had the U.S. economy adding 252,000 to payrolls last month, and prompted stock-index futures to reverse higher ahead of the open.
But the enthusiasm proved short lived, in light of the earnings figures.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries eked up, lowering yields to 2.01% from Thursday’s 2.02%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slid 30 cents per barrel to $48.49 U.S.
Gold prices added six dollars an ounce at $1,214.50 U.S.
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