Canada's main stock index found its feet and marched forward on Friday after a much stronger-than-expected inflation data bolstered expectations of an interest rate hike as early as next month.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index recovered 54.33 points to greet noon at 16,279.88
The Canadian dollar forged ahead four cents to 76.44 cents
Canada's energy regulator said on Thursday it had given the go-ahead for the construction of a large portion of the Trans Mountain expansion project, which will nearly triple capacity on the oil pipeline from Alberta to a Vancouver area port.
The project is closely associated with Kinder Morgan, whose stock stayed static at $16.80
The biggest drags were Brookfield Asset Management which fell 49 cents to $57.18, and Manulife Financial, which was down two cents to $24.52.
Gold miners boosted the materials index, with Barrick Gold Corp rising eight cents to $13.07, Wheaton Precious Metals climbed eight cents, or 4.1%, to $24.16, and Franco-Nevada Corp, surging $1.23, or 1.5%, to $86.27.
Ivanhoe Mines fall of six cents, or 2.9%, to $2.03, was the biggest on the index.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reports foreign investment in Canadian securities totaled $11.5 billion in June, up from $3.0 billion in May. At the same time, Canadian investment in foreign securities increased to $11.3 billion, the largest investment since January of this year.
In July, the cost of living rose 3.0% on a year-over-year basis in July, following a 2.5% increase in June. On a seasonally-adjusted monthly basis, the consumer price index was up 0.5% in July, after increasing 0.2% in June. The rate was forecast unchanged at 2.5% in July.
Chances of a September hike rose to nearly 30% from less than 20% the day earlier, as indicated by the overnight index swaps market.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 1.91 points to 675.08
All but three of the 12 subgroups were higher, with gold up 2.3%, health-care ahead 2.1%, materials advanced 1.3%.
The three laggards were consumer discretionary stocks, down 0.7%, information technology, off 0.5%, and industrials, sliding 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks were little changed on Friday as a decline in chipmakers brought down the broader tech sector.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average regained 68.21 points to 25,626.94
The S&P 500 picked up 3.34 points to 2,844.03, as information technology declined 0.3%.
The NASDAQ fell 15.76 points to 7,790.77.
The major averages jumped on Thursday with the Dow notching its biggest one-day gain since April. The Dow and S&P 500 were on track to post weekly gains, while the NASDAQ was poised to close lower for the week.
Shares of Applied Materials dropped more than 6% after the company issued weaker--than-expected guidance for its fiscal fourth quarter. Meanwhile, Nvidia fell 4.5% after its revenue forecast disappointed investors. These declines brought down the VanEck Vectors Semiconductor exchange-traded fund (SMH) by 1.1%.
Other major tech companies also fell, including Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet.
Investors were also jittery after the Turkish lira resumed its steep decline amid the possibility of more U.S. sanctions. The U.S. warned Turkey it would impose more sanctions on the country if American pastor Andrew Brunson is not released. Brunson has been detained in Turkey since 2016. The threats sent the Turkish lira — which hit a record low against the dollar earlier this week — down by about 4.4%
Chinese tech giant Tencent reported earlier this week its slowest revenue growth rate since 2015, sending U.S. tech companies like Facebook, Netflix and Alphabet lower. Meanwhile, Macy's shares fell sharply on Wednesday as the company struggles to grow sales.
However, investors cheered strong results from WalMart and Cisco Systems on Thursday. Investors were also pleased after National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow confirmed earlier media reports, which stated that China and the U.S. would hold a fresh round of trade discussions later on this month.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury gained ground, lowering yields to 2.86% from Thursday’s 2.87%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices recovered 43 cents at $65.89 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gathered $2.30 to $1,186.30 U.S. an ounce.
