Canada's main stock index fell on Friday, weighed down by weak metal and oil prices, but was set to record a fifth consecutive week of gain on optimism around a faster economic recovery.
The TSX dished off 53.3 points from Thursday’s all-time high, to open the week’s last session at 19,175.57
The Canadian dollar moved up 0.08 cents at 79.68 cents U.S.
CIBC raised the price target on AirBoss of America to $47.00 from $42.00. AirBoss added four cents to $41.22.
National Bank of Canada ups the rating on Equinox Gold to outperform from sector perform. Equinox gave a dime in price to $10.73.
BMO raised the price target on IGM Financial to $41.00 from $38.00. IGM stock gained 21 cents to $39.75.
BMO raised the price target on Torex Gold Resources to $30.00 from $29.00. Shares in Torex subsided 12 cents to $17.39.
On the economic platform, Statistics Canada reported that unemployment rose 303,000 (or 1.6%) in March. Combined with an increase of 259,000 (1.4%) in February, this brought employment to within 1.5% (or 296,000) of its February 2020 level.
The unemployment rate fell 0.7 percentage points to 7.5%, the lowest level since February 2020.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange docked 1.78 points to 960.95.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower, with gold down 1.4%, information technology lower 1.3%, and materials off 0.9%.
The four gainers were led by energy, up 0.2%, financials eking up 0.1%, and consumer staples edging ahead 0.01%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 traded near its record high on Friday as Wall Street is set to wrap up the week with solid gains.
The Dow Jones Industrials climbed 86.89 points to 33,590.46.
The broader index gained 6.98 points, to 4,104.15, for yet another intraday record.
The NASDAQ Composite faded 24.41 points to 13,804.90.
Some stocks linked to the recovering economy gained. Carnival Corp rose 1.5% after getting two upgrades on Wall Street amid pent-up demand and potential summer restart. General Electric climbed about 2%. JPMorgan added 0.9%. Tech stocks including Apple and Netflix pulled back slightly.
The major averages are set to end the week higher. The Dow is up nearly 1.6% this week. The S&P 500 has gained more than 1.9% since Monday. The NASDAQ has rallied more than 2.5% heading into Friday.
On the data front, the producer price index, which measures wholesale price inflation, jumped in March. The March PPI data showed a rise of 1.0%, compared with a projected increase of 0.4% from economists surveyed by Dow Jones.
Year over year, the PPI surged 4.2%, which marks the largest annual gain in more than nine years.
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys fell, raising yields to 1.66% from Thursday’s 1.62%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped 26 cents to $59.34 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slumped $16.30 to $1,741.90 U.S. an ounce.
