Toronto stocks inched higher in choppy trading on Friday and were set for weekly gains, after stronger-than-expected U.S. producer price data caused investors to fret over sticky inflation in the world's largest economy.
The TSX moved slowly up, 21.94 points, to reach noon hour EDT Friday at 20,364.82.
The Canadian dollar reacquired 0.07 cents to 74.42 cents U.S.
Utilities shed strength as shares of Northland Power fell $1.29, or 5.3%, to $22.98 after the power producer reported a drop in quarterly net income. The stock was the worst performer on the benchmark index.
Meanwhile, Air Canada moved higher 27 cents, or 1.2%, to $23.13, after the “Maple Leaf Airline” reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Friday compared with a year-ago loss.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slid 1.03 points to 604.63.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups had moved onto positive ground by noon hour, with health-care cruising 1.8%, while energy gained 0.8%, and real-estate was 0.7% to the good.
The four laggards were weighed most by information technology, down 1%, consumer discretionary stocks, ailing 0.9%, and consumer staples, off 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 inched lower on Friday and was on pace to record another losing week as investors weighed crosscurrents within corporate earnings and inflation data.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 117.65 points to pause for lunch at 35,239.16, helped by gains of nearly 1% in UnitedHealth and Honeywell
The much-broader index docked 2.84 points to 4,465.99.
The NASDAQ Composite fell 72.14 points to 13,660.84, pulled down by a selloff in semiconductor stocks such as Advanced Micro Devices, Nvidia and Micron
The S&P 500 is set to lose 0.5% on the week, and the NASDAQ is bound for a decline of 2%. Both are on pace for their second straight losing week — a first of that length for the technology-heavy NASDAQ since the conclusion of a four-week losing streak in December 2022.
The Dow is an outlier of the three major averages, on track for a 0.4% gain this week.
Disney rallied on the back of its earnings report released Wednesday. Shares are up 3.9% on the week despite a pullback in Friday’s session. That puts the entertainment giant’s stock on track to see its best week since March.
July’s producer price index rose 0.3% from the previous month. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected the report, which is closely followed by the
Prices for the 10-year Treasury faded slightly, raising yields to 4.15% from Thursday’s 4.11%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices picked up 61 cents to $83.43 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices declined $2.40 to $1,946.50 U.S. an ounce.
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