Stocks throughout North America climbed into record territory to finish off a remarkable week, as Canadian tech and industrial firms proved the strongest Friday.
The TSX Composite Index moved higher by 54.40 points to conclude the day and the last full week before Christmas at 17,118.44
The Canadian dollar backtracked 0.19 cents to 76.01 cents U.S.
BlackBerry proved the star of the show Friday, leaping 93 cents, or 12.2%, to $8.56, while Enghouse Systems climbing $2.14, or 4.4%, to $50.97.
Industrials also had a field day, with Morneau Shepell gaining 74 cents, or 2.2%, to $33.97, while Ballard Power Systems took on 11 cents, or 1.3%, to $8.86.
Among financials, ECN Capital gained 16 cents, or 3.4%, to $4.87, while Genworth MIC grabbed itself $1.08, or 2%, to $55.92.
Gold proved not so solid by day’s end, with Alacer Gold slouching 52 cents, or 7.7%, to $6.23, while OceanaGold ducked lower eight cents, or 3.4%, to $2.27
In the materials sector, First Quantum Minerals lost 63 cents, or 4.7%, to $12.75, while Hudbay Minerals sank 23 cents, or 4.4%, to $5.05.
Energy sagged, too, as EnCana dropped 16 cents, or 2.7%, to $5.73, while Frontera Energy fell 25 cents, or 2.6%, to $9.21.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported retail sales in Canada sank 1.2% to $50.9 billion in October. The agency attributes the decline to lower sales at motor vehicle and parts dealers and at building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers.
What’s more, the agency’s new housing price index was down 0.1% in November, following three consecutive monthly increases.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange added 4.2 points to 548.84
Eight of the 12 subgroups gained ground, with information technology sprinting 1.4%, industrials, up 0.7%, and financials, adding 0.6%
The four laggards were weighed most by gold, down 1.1%, materials, off 1%, and energy, sagging 0.6%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose and made fresh record highs on Friday to end a week that saw solid gains as geopolitical risks abate toward the end of a blockbuster 2019.
The Dow Jones Industrials came off its dizzy highs of the day, but still gained 78.13 points to wind up the week at 28,455.09. The 30-stock index grew 1.2% for the week.
The S&P 500 added 15.85 points to Thursday’s all-time high, to 3,221.22. The S&P 500 was up more than 1.5% for the week and posted its fourth consecutive weekly gain.
The S&P 500 is up nearly 28.5% year to date with less than 10 trading days left in 2019. That would be the index’s best one-year performance since 2013, when it rallied 29.6%.
Carnival shares led the S&P 500 higher, surging more than 7% on strong quarterly results. Verizon and 3M both rose more than 1.8% to push the Dow into record levels.
The NASDAQ piled 37.74 points onto Thursday’s all-time record, at 8,924.96, gaining 2.1% on the week and notching an eight-day winning streak.
Meanwhile, consumer spending growth for the third quarter was revised higher to 3.2% from 2.9%. Sentiment among consumers also remained strong in December.
Wall Street also got a boost after President Donald Trump tweeted he had a "very good talk" with Chinese President Xi Jinping about the U.S.-China trade deal, noting "China has already started large scale purchases of agricultural product & more."
Prices for the 10-Year U.S. Treasury strengthened, lowering yields to Thursday’s 1.92%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slumped 84 cents to $60.34 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dumped $3.10 at $1,481.30 U.S. an ounce.
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