Equities in Canada’s largest market opened lower Friday, the last day of the week and month, as data showed the domestic economy likely plunged at a record pace in the second quarter.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index dumped 64.27 points to start Friday at 16,235.02.
The Canadian dollar docked 0.01 cents to 74.44 cents U.S.
Air Canada reported a loss for the second quarter on Friday, hit by a plunge in passenger numbers as coronavirus-driven travel restrictions slammed demand. The Maple Leaf Airline saw its shares descend 43 cents, or 2.7%, in the first hour to $15.66.
CIBC raised the target price on Intact Financial to $155.00 from $140.00. Intact docked 70 cents to $146.31.
RBC cut the rating on Lundin Mining to sector perform from outperform. Lundin shares gave back a penny to $7.66.
ATB Capital Markets raised the rating on Tervita Corp. to outperform from sector perform. Shares in Tervita jumped 27 cents, or 7.9%, to $3.71.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada reports gross domestic product figures grew 4.5% in May, following two months of unprecedented declines, as 17 of 20 industrial sectors increased.
Moreover, building permits for June hiked 6.2% to $8.1 billion in June, to a level comparable to pre-COVID levels. Overall, seven provinces reported gains for the month.
The agency’s industrial product price index rose 0.4% in June, driven mainly by higher prices for energy and petroleum products, while its raw materials price index increased 7.5% last month, primarily as a result of higher prices for crude energy products.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange raced ahead 12.2 points, or 1.7%, to 717.94.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups dangled in the first hour, with consumer discretionary stocks shedding 1.1%, financials down 0.8%, and industrials sliding 0.7%.
The four gainers were led by gold, ahead 1.2%, materials, picking up 1.1%, and health-care haler by 0.6%.
ON WALLSTREET
The biggest tech companies and market leaders — Facebook, Amazon and Apple — soared on Friday after reporting better-than-expected quarterly results. But the Dow Jones Industrial Average struggled to find the green.
The 30-stock average retreated 55.19 points to 26,258.46. as Caterpillar and Chevron led the declines.
The S&P 500 regained 2.64 points to 3,248.86.
The NASDAQ gained 74.88 points to 10,662.69.
Emergency unemployment benefits are set to expire Friday and Congress and the White House still seem far apart on an agreement.
Dow-component Chevron fell more than 4% after the oil giant reported an $8.3-billion loss in the second quarter as the pandemic "significantly reduced demand."
Stocks linked to an economic recovery like banks and retailers were lower as investors assessed the biggest quarterly gross domestic product contraction on record and persistently weak job growth. JPMorgan and Home Depot were both in the red.
There could be a so-called "sell-the-news" effect now that technology companies have delivered strong results to back up their market-leading run.
Apple reported a blowout quarter, sending shares up more than 6%. The company said its overall sales expanded by 11%, and Apple also announced a four-for-one stock split.
Amazon, meanwhile, traded 5% higher as the company saw its sales skyrocket during the coronavirus pandemic. Facebook shares rallied more than 7% as the social media giant posted revenue growth of 11% even amid the coronavirus pandemic slowdown. The company also issued stronger-than-expected sales guidance for the current quarter.
Google-parent Alphabet also posted better-than-expected earnings, but the company’s overall revenue declined for the first time in its history. Revenue for Google Cloud was also just below analyst expectations. Alphabet shares fell more than 4%.
Collectively the four stocks were set to add about $200 billion to their total market cap, bringing it to more than $5 trillion combined.
Big Tech has been the stalwart on Wall Street this year. Amazon and Apple are up 65% and 31%, respectively, in 2020. Facebook and Alphabet have risen more than 14% over that time period.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury backpedaled, raising yields to 0.56% from Thursday’s 0.54%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices forged ahead 24 cents to $40.16 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices revived $15.10 to $1,981.90 U.S. an ounce.
