Canadian stocks were down slightly at noon on Friday, following an upbeat report on U.S. payrolls and more calls for urgent action on the sovereign debt crisis from European leaders.
The S&P TSX Composite approached noon off 32.08 points to 12,081.21
The Canadian dollar settled back 0.24 cents to 98.39 U.S. cents
Royal Bank of Canada rose 3.4% after reporting that its quarterly earnings rose 43% in the fourth quarter, to $1.07 a share, beating analysts expectations after one-time items were taken into account.
Other bank stocks also rose, including Toronto-Dominion Bank, which gained 0.8%, despite retreating on Thursday after releasing its quarterly report.
However, Research In Motion Ltd. fell 6.3% after it said it would take a $485-million U.S. hit in its third-quarter results due partly to discounting the price of its PlayBook tablet computers. It now expects quarterly earnings to be at the low range of its previous guidance of $1.20 to $1.40 a share.
On Friday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that Europe’s problems will take years to fix but appealed for quick action among policy makers to help integrate the region’s economies. Her remarks followed a stern warning from French leader Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday, when he warned that without economic convergence, the "euro-zone will explode."
On the economic front, Statistics Canada came out with figures this morning saying the country lost 18,600 jobs last month, with the unemployment rate hiking one-10th of a point to 7.4%.
The loss of 53,300 part-time jobs was partially offset by a gain of 34,600 in full-time employment. Despite recent declines, employment in Canada rose 1.2% compared to November 2010.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange grew 3.52 points to 1,551.66, while the Nasdaq Canada index subsided 11.95 points to 400.09
Nine of the 14 Toronto subgroups were negative midday. Information technology and gold each lost 2.1%, while materials slid 1.6%.
The five gainers were led by industrials, up 1%, financials and energy, each up 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks posted big gains early Friday, after the government's closely-watched jobs report showed a bigger-than-expected boost in payrolls last month.
The Dow Jones Industrials broke for lunch ahead 44.76 points to 12,064.80
The S&P 500 remained positive 7.04 points, to 1,251.62, while the Nasdaq Composite grew 13.99 points to 2,640.19
Bank stocks were among the top gainers Friday, with Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase leading the Dow's advance. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup shares were also sharply higher.
Western Digital's stock jumped 12% after the company raised its revenue guidance for the fourth quarter. The company had restarted production at its flood-damaged facilities in Thailand ahead of schedule.
Shares of Research in Motion slid nearly 9% after the company said it no longer expects to meet its full-year earnings target.
Shares of Big Lots fell more than 9% after the retailer posted a sharp decline in third-quarter profit.
Economically speaking, U.S. government said employers boosted payrolls by 120,000 jobs in November, from an upwardly revised 100,000 jobs in October. The unemployment rate eased to 8.6%, the lowest level since March 2009.
A survey of 21 economists had predicted that 110,000 jobs were added in November, while the unemployment rate was expected to stay unchanged at 9%.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell, pushing the yield up to 2.08% from 2.07% late Thursday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for January delivery dropped a penny to $100.11 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for February delivery gained $16 to $1,755.80 U.S. an ounce.
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