Equities in Canada’s biggest market fell on Friday, snapping a four-day rally to pare a weekly advance as crude dropped below $30.00 U.S. a barrel in New York and retail sales tumbled the most in more than five years.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index was off its lows of the day, but still negative 117.96 points to close the day and the week at 12,813.40.
The Canadian dollar dropped 0.27 cents to 72.60 cents U.S.
The TSX remains the best-performing developed market in the world in 2016 with a decline of only 1.4%, after being among the worst in the past year.
Encana Corp. tumbled 53 cents, or 10.9%, to $4.32, as energy producers fell for a second day of losses.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. dropped $12.47, or 9.6%, to $117.00. An analyst at Wells Fargo Securities said there are many "unanswered questions" about the company’s strategic direction and forecast as he initiated coverage of the stock with an underperform, the equivalent of a sell.
Valeant, briefly the largest company in the S&P/TSX by market capitalization last year, has slumped 64% from an August high amid intense scrutiny from investors and lawmakers surrounding its pricing practices.
Dream Office REIT surged $2.07, or 12.7%, to $18.34, the most since 2008, after saying yesterday it plans to sell about $1.2 billion in assets in the next three years, and it cut its annualized distribution by 33 per cent. The stock was also raised to an action list buy from buy at TD Securities.
Boardwalk REIT rose $4.65, or 10.9% on the day to $47.20
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that the consumer price index rose 2.0% in the 12 months to January, after increasing 1.6% in December. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the Consumer Price Index increased 0.2% in January, following a 0.1% increase in December.
Moreover, retail sales fell 2.2% in December to $43.2 billion, following a 1.7% rise in November. Declines were widespread as lower sales were reported in 10 of 11 sub-sectors, representing 97% of retail trade.
The agency reported that later snowfalls and unseasonably warm weather in many parts of Canada may have contributed to lower seasonal purchases.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 4.88 points to 530.76
All but three of the 13 TSX subgroups were lower on the day, as health-care ducked 3.6%, energy lost 1.7%, and financials subsided 1.6%.
The three gainers were metals and mining, powering up 1.3%, consumer staples, up 0.3%, and telecoms, nicking up 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks closed mixed Friday, mostly shaking off pressure from declines in oil prices to post their best weekly gain of the year so far.
The Dow Jones industrial average doffed 21.44 points to 16,391.99. Chevron and Boeing were the greatest contributors to declines on the Dow
The S&P 500 inched up 0.05 points to 1,917.78, as energy declined more than 1% as the greatest laggard.
The NASDAQ index gained 16.89 points to 4,504.43, helped by gains in Applied Materials, Facebook and shares of Alphabet, Google's parent company.
As of the close Thursday, the major U.S. averages were up more than 2.5% for the week so far, on pace for their best week since November.
Friday also was also an options expiration day, which could have contributed to volatility in trade.
In earnings news, Deere reported earnings that beat by 10 cents but revenue missed as the strong dollar weighed. The heavy equipment maker said its financial condition is strong, but it expects another "challenging" year ahead.
Nordstrom missed on both the top and bottom line, and gave a below-expectations full-year earnings and sales outlook. The retailer has been negatively impacted by heavy discounting and unseasonably warm weather.
In economic news, the consumer price index showed a 0.3% rise ex-food and energy in January. The headline inflation figure was unchanged from the previous month. Year-over-year, the core CPI moved up 2.2%, the largest rise since June 2012
Prices for the 10-year Treasury lost a bit of ground, raising yields to 1.75% from Thursday’s 1.74%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices lost 93 cents a barrel to $29.52 U.S.
Gold prices backpedaled $3.15 to $1,227.72 U.S. an ounce.
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