Equities in Canada’s greatest centre pushed higher on Friday with mining and energy stocks big beneficiaries of a weak U.S. jobs report that weighed on the U.S. dollar and, in turn, boosted commodity prices.
The S&P/TSX Composite surged 139.38 points, or nearly 1%, to begin the last session before the long weekend at 14,823.29
The Canadian dollar added 0.62 cents at 76.94 cents U.S.
CIBC raised the target price on Bank of Montreal to $90.00 from $88.00. BMO shares rose 88 cents, or 1%, to $87.90.
RBC raised the target price on BRP Inc. to $28.00 from $27.00 with an outperform rating. BRP shares gains 83 cents, or 3.4%, to $25.15.
RBC raised the target price on Dollarama to $122.00 from $120.00, with an outperform rating.
Dollarama shares dived $1.20, or 1.2%, to $99.99.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that Canada's exports increased 3.4% to $42.7 billion in July. Imports edged down 0.1% to $45.2 billion.
As a result, Canada's merchandise trade deficit with the world narrowed from a record $4.0 billion in June to $2.5 billion in July.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange soared 11.33 points, or 1.4%, to 805.33
All but one of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher in the first hour of the day, with gold shining brighter 2.6%, materials stronger 2.3%, and energy up 1.5
Health-care proved the lone holdout, down 0.7%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities traded higher on Friday, with energy and utilities rising 1%, following a disappointing employment report.
The Dow Jones Industrials bolted higher 109.13 points to start the session at 18,528.43, with Boeing leading advancers and Pfizer the only laggard.
The S&P 500 gained 12.81 points to 2,183.67, with utilities leading all sectors higher.
The NASDAQ Composite hiked 34.75 points to 5,261.82, as Apple advanced approximately 1%.
The U.S. economy added 151,000 jobs in August, with the jobless rate coming at 4.9%. Economists had forecast 180,000 were added last month, while the unemployment rate remained at 4.8%.
Investors were anxiously expecting the jobs report as they looked for more clues about whether the Fed would raise interest rates in September. Market expectations for a rate hike in September fell to 18% from 27% following the report's release
Other data due Friday include factory orders.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury sagged, raising yields to 1.6% from Thursday’s 1.57%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices acquired $1.19 at $44.35 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices picked up $10.40 at $1,327.20 U.S. an ounce.
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