MEG, Aurinia in Focus
Equities in Canada’s biggest market staggered midday Friday after oil prices slipped on demand concerns, while investors showed scant reaction to data that signalled the country's economy likely grew in March by 0.9% on-month.
The TSX dwindled 92.37 points to reach noon at 19,163.55.
The Canadian dollar deleted 0.09 cents to 81.36 cents U.S.
The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, which jumped $1.87, or 12.6%, to $16.69 and Restaurant Brands International, which rose 64 cents to $83.85, after its quarterly results topped estimates, as a reopening U.S. economy and government stimulus checks boosted spending at the company's Burger King chain.
Meg Energy fell 27 cents, or 3.8%, the most on the TSX, to $6.80,
followed by Sunopta, down 16 cents, or 1%, to $15.27.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada said real gross domestic product grew 0.4% in February, following 0.7% growth in January, as 14 of the 20 industrial sectors were up.
Also, in March, the Industrial Product Price Index increased 1.6% month over month and 10.0% year over year.
Moreover, Canada's first budget in two years looks set to join a pile of stalled bills in a Parliament besieged by partisan squabbling, a logjam that could be the trigger Prime Minister Justin Trudeau uses to call an early election.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slid 0.31 points to 945.25.
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups had wandered into the red by midday. Energy had lost 1.1%, information technology demurred 0.9%, and materials fell 0.8%.
The two gainers were health-care and real-estate, each up 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
The major averages slipped on Friday as investors pored over a flurry of earnings results and a robust profit beat from e-commerce giant Amazon.
The Dow Jones Industrials tumbled 221.9 points to pause for lunch at 33,838.46.
The S&P 500 lost 24.47 points from Thursday’s all-time high at 4,187.
The NASDAQ Composite dropped 60.7 points to 14,021.84.
Amazon, the last of Wall Street’s mega-cap tech companies to publish results, reported a record first-quarter profit. The Seattle-based firm said profits more than tripled to $8.1 billion and January-to-March sales soared 44% to $108 billion.
The results blew past Wall Street’s expectations with the company earning $15.79 per share vs. the consensus estimate of $9.54.
Amazon’s results showed demand remained strong for its massive online retail business even as the economy started to open up some.
Shares rose 1%, but that was not enough to lift sentiment for the whole market.
Twitter, meanwhile, moved in the opposite direction on user growth results and second-quarter revenue guidance that fell short of analysts’ forecasts. The social media platform said monetizable daily active users totaled 199 million during the three months ended March 31 and reported per-share earnings of 16 cents. Twitter plunged 14%.
Apple was coming under some slight pressure in the premarket after the European Union said the company’s App Store was breaching its competition rules. The shares were down 0.7%.
Exxon Mobil and Chevron were both trading lower. Chevron shares fell after quarterly EPS failed to exceed expectations.
On the economic calendar, March spending jumped a better-than-expected 4.2%. Personal incomes surged by a massive 21.1% amid more fiscal stimulus.
The PCE price index for March increased 0.5% month-over-month and 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. The core PCE, excluding food and energy, rose 0.4% for March and 1.8% year-over-year. The PCE inflation metric is watched closely by the Federal Reserve and Chairman Jerome Powell warned earlier in the week it may show a transitory increase in prices.
The inflation numbers apparently weren’t as high as feared, as the 10-year yield remained flat after the numbers were released.
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys were unchanged, keeping yields at Thursday’s 1.63%.
Oil prices faded $1.50 to $63.51 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices settled $1.40 to $1,766.90 U.S. an ounce.
