Bay Street stocks remained modestly higher in Friday afternoon trading as strength in the industrial and financial sectors offset a drop of gold stocks.
By the end of the session, the S&P/TSX Composite Index had survived a 100-point-plus fall early in the morning to finish above water by 27.61 points to 11464.41, following Thursday’s 200-point tumble.
Industrials were up, led by the major rail companies. Canadian Pacific was up 1.6% and Canadian National railway gained 1.3%.
Financials have added 0.7%. CIBC was up 1.5%, Royal Bank has added 1.4% and Bank of Montreal was up 1.3%.
QLT soared 8% after RBC Capital upgraded the stock to "outperform" from "sector perform" and boosted its target price to $6 from $4.50. On Wednesday, the company announced the settlement of its litigation with Massachusetts General Hospital.
Gold stocks have lost a fair bit of strength as the precious metal finished lower on the Comex. Novagold dropped 3.9% and Centerra Gold lost 2%.
Pinetree Capital declined 5.6% after the company announced that it acquired of 1.58 million common shares of Latin American Minerals.
In economic news, the Canadian currency account balance data showed a record third-quarter deficit of $13.12 billion, compared to a revised deficit of $11.94 billion in the second quarter.
The Canadian dollar was still negative 0.06 cents to 94.19 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Of the 14 TSX subgroups, eight ended the day lower. Global base metals took the biggest hit, off 2.6%, gold was off 1.9%, metals and mining stocks lost 1%.
The half-dozen gainers were led by health-care, up 0.9%, while financials and industrials slid 0.7% each.
The TSX Venture Exchange remained in the red by 13.77 points to 1,405.60, while the Nasdaq Canada surrendered 16.50 points to 646.75.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks tumbled Friday afternoon as fears about the fallout from Dubai's debt problems rattled Wall Street in a thinly-traded half-day session following Thanksgiving.
The Dow Jones Industrials was down 154.48 points, or 1.5%, to 10,309.92. The S&P 500 index stumbled 19.14 points to 1,091.49, while the Nasdaq jettisoned 37.61 points to 2,138.44.
All financial markets were closed Thursday for Thanksgiving, and the stock market closed at 1 p.m. Friday. Trading volume was very light with many Wall Street pros taking a five-day weekend.
The Dubai government shocked global investors late Wednesday by saying it needed at least a six-month deferment on the $60 billion U.S. in debt owed by Dubai World and Nakheel.
Dubai World is the government-owned holding company for Dubai, the most populous of the seven Emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates. Nakheel is its real estate arm.
Dubai's construction boom has helped transform the Emirate into one of the world's financial centers, as well as a tourist hot spot. But Dubai has not been immune to the real estate collapse that has hit the rest of the world, with values plummeting even as pricey projects continue to get underway.
Initial reports suggest that although Black Friday appears to be milder than in recent years, consumers are indeed out in droves to take advantage of discounts on toys, clothes, games and entertainment.
Black Friday, the first shopping day of the critical holiday retail period, is seen as a key barometer of how the next six weeks will play out. In a year fraught with rising joblessness --the unemployment rate is at a 26-year high of 10.2% -- Black Friday is also being dissected for clues on the health of the consumer.
Retailers including Toys R Us, which opened its doors at midnight on Thanksgiving, were seeing shoppers take advantage of "doorbuster" deals. Wal-Mart Stores, Best Buy and Sears were among the other retailers benefiting from a consumer that is strained, but willing to take advantage of substantial price cuts on key items.
Treasury prices shot up, lowering the yields on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.20% from Wednesday’s 3.26%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil tumbled $1.91 to $76.05 U.S.
Gold prices dumped $13 to $1,176 U.S.
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