Canada's main stock index treaded water on Friday, as investors awaited progress on talks between the United States and China on the sidelines of a G20 meeting to resolve their protracted trade dispute.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index cleared breakeven 9.3 points to climb into noon hour ET Friday at 16,317.03
The Canadian dollar eked up 0.08 cents to 76.42 cents U.S.
The largest percentage gainer on the TSX was TransAlta Corp which jumped 42 cents, or 5.2%, to $8.41, and Cascades followed closely behind with a nickel gain to $10.65, after it won a bid to acquire some of the assets of Orchids Paper Products.
Novagold Resources fell seven cents to $7.52 while Shopify was down $4.03, or 1%, to $390.63
On matters macroeconomic, Statistics Canada reported that real gross domestic product was up 0.3% in April, following a 0.5% increase in March.
Goods-producing industries rose 0.4%, while services producing industries increased 0.2%. The 20 industrial sectors were nearly evenly split between gains and losses.
In May, the agency said its Industrial Product Price Index edged up 0.1% in May.
Higher prices for energy and petroleum products and for motorized and recreational vehicles were largely offset by lower prices for primary non-ferrous metal products.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 4.65 points to 584.70
The 12 Toronto subgroups were evenly divided as consumer discretionary stocks gained 0.4%, while utilities improved 0.3%, and financials picked up 0.2%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by consumer staples faded 0.5%, energy slumped 0.4%, and industrials dropped 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks traded higher on Friday as bank shares got a boost after the release of the Federal Reserve’s stress test results while investors looked ahead to a key meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average picked up 63.45 points at 26,590.03, as J.P. Morgan Chase shares outperformed.
The S&P 500 increased 10.63 points to 2,935.55, led by the financials sector.
The NASDAQ Composite acquired 29.5 points to 7,997.25
J.P. Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Wells Fargo all rose more than 1.8%. Goldman Sachs and Bank of America gained more than 2% each.
Their gains come after they passed the Fed’s annual stress test and got approval to boost dividends and share repurchase programs. Goldman hiked its quarterly dividend by nearly 50% while J.P. Morgan raised its dividend by 10 cents.
Friday’s session marks the end of a stellar month for stocks. The major indexes were all up more than 6% through Thursday’s close. The Dow was on pace for its biggest June gain since 1938. The S&P 500 was set to post its best June performance since 1955.
But Wall Street’s gains were kept in check as traders awaited the Trump-Xi trade meeting scheduled for Saturday.
The world’s two largest economies have maintained firm stances going into the weekend, with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce calling on Washington to cancel its pressure and sanction measures on Huawei and other Chinese companies, while Trump reiterated a threat to impose tariffs on all Chinese imports if talks fail.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury were unchanged, keeping yields at Thursday’s 2.01%.
Oil prices were down five cents to $59.38 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices surged $2.60 to $1,414.60 U.S. an ounce.
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