Canada's main stock index straddled the breakeven line by midday on Friday, boosted by data showing the country added more jobs in October and strong earnings from Magna International and Enbridge.
The TSX faded 9.83 points to greet noon at 16,288.34.
The Canadian dollar hiked 0.32 cents at 76.76 cents U.S.
Shares of Magna rose $2.98, or 4.1%, to $75.14, after the auto parts maker posted better-than-expected earnings, while pipeline operator Enbridge reported a 4.3% rise in quarterly profit helping its shares rise about 0.5%. Enbridge fell behind 65 cents, or 1.8%, to $36.47.
The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were pot producer Aurora Cannabis, which jumped $6.34, or an astonishing 77.5%, to $14.52, and Jamieson Wellness, which rose $2.54, or 6.3%, to $43.10, after multiple brokerages raised their price target on its stock.
Kinaxis fell $11.08, or 5.1%, the most on the TSX, to $206.80, after Scotiabank cut its price target of the IT service provider's stock.
In the economic docket, Statistics Canada reported the economy created 84,000 jobs in October, but keeping the unemployment rate intact at 8.9%, pretty much same as September.
As well, Western University’s IVEY School of Business said its Purchasing Managers Index for October progressed a notch in October to 54.5 from September's 54.3, towering above the 48.2 figure in October 2019.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange popped 10.47 points, or 1.4%, to 737.90.
Six of the 12 TSX subgroups had fallen into the red by noon hour, as energy slumped 1.3%, consumer discretionary issues doffed 0.3%, and real-estate crumbled 0.2%.
The five gainers were headed by health-care, vaulting 8.1%, utilities, up 0.8%, and communications, gaining 0.6%.
Industrials were unchanged by noon hour EST.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks dipped on Friday as traders looked for clarity around the presidential and congressional election results. Sentiment was kept in check by better-than-expected U.S. unemployment data.
The Dow Jones Industrials dropped 69.76 points to 28,320.42.
The S&P 500 lost 3.55 points to 3,506.90.
The NASDAQ tailed off 20.04 points, to 11,870.89.
Wall Street was coming off its fourth-straight positive session on Thursday and the major averages were on track for their best week in months. The S&P 500 added 6.8%, and NASDAQ was up 8.1%. That would be their best weekly performance since April. The Dow is up 6.5% week to date, which would be its biggest one-week rally since June.
The surge in stocks this week has come despite lingering uncertainty about the outcome of Tuesday’s election. Democratic nominee Joe Biden leads with 253 electoral votes, according to media projections, while President Donald Trump has 214.
Votes are still being counted in several key states including Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Georgia. Some media outlets say Biden has taken a slight lead in Georgia and Pennsylvania.
The U.S. Labor Department said that country’s unemployment rate fell to 6.9% in October from 7.9%. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected the rate to dip to 7.7%. The U.S. economy also added 638,000 jobs last month, topping an estimate of 530,000.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury were lower, lifting yields to 0.82% from Thursday’s 0.77%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices skidded $1.65 to $37.14 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices regained six dollars to $1,952.80
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