Equities in Canada’s largest centre found their mojo by noon EST Friday, and made their way up the charts,
The S&P/TSX Composite recovered 86.5 points midday to 20,826.28.
The Canadian dollar slipped 0.22 cents at 78.02 cents U.S.
Health-care stocks saw the most positive activity Friday morning, with Cronos Group flying 30 cents, or 5.8%, to $5.40, while Canopy Growth jumped 65 cents, or 5.6%, to $12.32.
Tech stocks also shone, as Nuvei Corp. hiked $5.38, or 8.5%, to $69.00. BlackBerry shares climbed 56 cents, or 5%, to $11.76.
The rapid spread of Omicron coronavirus cases in the U.S. has forced some companies to pause plans to get workers back into office, while the number of cases in countries including Denmark, South Africa and Britain, has been doubling every two days.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported foreign investors acquired $23.9 billion of Canadian securities in October, the largest investment since April 2020. At the same time, Canadian investors increased their holdings of foreign securities by $5.4 billion, led by record purchases of non-U.S. foreign bonds.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange reattached 4.77 points to 893.22.
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher by lunch hour, with health-care 2.9%, information technology, up 1.8%, and materials better by 1.3%.
The two laggards were energy, down 1.2%, and financials, poorer by 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks came under pressure again on Friday with major averages on track for a losing week amid worries about tighter monetary policy and the ongoing pandemic.
The Dow Jones Industrials came off their lows of the morning, but remained down 462.12 points, or 1.3%, at 35,435.51
The S&P 500 index ducked 40.52 to 4,628.15.
The NASDAQ sank 35.96 points at 15,144.47, also off its lows of the morning.
Friday coincided with the expiration of stock options, index options, stock futures and index futures — a quarterly event known as "quadruple witching" that typically comes with heightened volatility.
The major averages are on track to post a negative week with the NASDAQ being the biggest loser. The tech-heavy benchmark has declined nearly 3%, while the Dow and the S&P 500 were both down more than 1%.
Bank of America and JPMorgan both traded over 2% lower.
Many megacap tech shares traded in the red. Amazon and Microsoft both lost about 1%, while Alphabet and Meta Platforms also dipped 1% each. Microsoft has lost more than 6% this week alone, and Apple is down 5% on the week.
Shares of one-time EV darling Rivian tumbled 11% Friday after the truck maker said it will fall short of its 2021 production target.
FedEx shares jumped 5% after quarterly earnings and revenue results topped expectations and it announced a $5-billion buyback. The shipper also reinstated its original 2022 EPS forecast.
Prices for 10-year Treasurys gained sharply, lowering yields to 1.38% from Thursday’s 1.43%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped $1.50 to $70.88 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices heightened $8.10 to $1,806.30 U.S. an ounce.
