Equities in Canada’s largest market opened flat on Friday, as gains in financial stocks offset weakness in the energy sector.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index took on 15.75 points to begin Friday at 16,471.48
The Canadian dollar inched forward 0.02 cents at 76.51 cents U.S.
Air Canada reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Friday, as the carrier benefited from robust travel demand and higher fares.
Air Canada shares gained 34 cents, or 1.5%, to $23.82.
Thomson Reuters Corp's Financial and Risk unit, in which U.S. private equity firm Blackstone Group is buying a majority stake, will be renamed Refinitiv once the deal closes.
Thomson Reuters shares dipped 14 cents to $54.48.
Activist investor John Paulson's hedge fund on Thursday nominated eight members to Detour Gold Corp's board and reiterated its call for a special shareholder meeting, ratcheting up pressure on the gold miner.
Detour acquired a dime to $13.02.
RBC raised the target price Cameco Corp. to $16.00 from $15.00. Cameco shares faltered 55 cents, or 3.7%, to $14.19.
Barclays raised the price target on Husky Energy to $26.00 from $24.00. Husky shares gained 31 cents, or 1.5%, to $21.25.
RBC raised the target price on Mullen Group to $18.00 from $16.00. Mullen shares lost three cents to $16.40.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange advanced 2.28 points to 707.40
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive, with health-care galloping 1.5%, materials stronger by 0.4%, and industrials up 0.3%.
The four laggards were information technology, falling 1.9%, real-estate worse off by 0.2%, and utilities, retreating 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks opened higher on Friday as Wall Street pored through strong economic data and the latest batch of quarterly earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrials nicked higher 10.45 points to start Friday at 25,537.52, with Verizon outperforming.
The S&P 500 went south 2.61 points to 2,837.53, despite consumer discretionary climbing more than 1%.
The NASDAQ gave back 22.36 points to 7,829.82, in spite of gains by Amazon
Amazon and Intel reported better-than-expected earnings Thursday after the close. Shares of Amazon rose more than 3 percent, but Intel's stock declined more than 6.5%.
Twitter, meanwhile, posted quarterly earnings that were in line with expectations. However, the stock dropped more than 14% as the company also reported a decline in monthly active users, a key metric for the social media firm.
Dow component Exxon Mobil reported a weaker-than-expected profit, sending its stock down nearly 3%.
Thus far, over 50% of S&P 500 companies have reported earnings. Of those companies, 79.8% have reported better-than-expected earnings
The Commerce Department said the U.S. economy grew by 4.1% in the second quarter, in line with analyst expectations. That's the fastest rate of the growth since the third quarter of 2014 and the third-best growth rate since the Great Recession.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury gained strength, lowering yields to 2.96% from Thursday’s 2.98%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices inched up 12 cents to $69.73 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices shed $2.30 to $1,223.40 U.S. an ounce.
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