Canada's main stock index made small headway at the open on Friday, dragged lower by a cautious mood in Wall Street after data pointed to weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs growth.
The S&P/TSX Composite tentatively grabbed 23.48 points to begin Friday at 21,095.68.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.26 cents to 78.82 cents U.S.
Cameco Corp said on Thursday it could resume production of roughly 24 million pounds of uranium annually in North America if needed by the global market due to the political turmoil in Kazakhstan.
Cameco shares fell 13 cents to $28.81.
GlaxoSmithKline PLC said on Thursday it has signed agreements with the federal government to supply 20,000 more doses of its COVID-19 drug, as the country battles a surge in infections driven by the omicron variant.
National Bank of Canada raised the target price Agnico Eagle Mines to $81.00 from $80.00. Agnico shares sank 48 cents to $63.15.
JP Morgan cut the rating on Emera to underweight from neutral. Emera shares withered 58 cents to $60.93.
ATB Capital Markets initiated coverage on Freehold Royalties with outperform rating. Freehold shares gained seven cents to $12.19.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada said the economy created 55,000 jobs in December, not enough, though, to disturb the unemployment rate in this country from its current perch of 5.9%.
Moreover, Western University’s IVEY Purchasing Managers Index plummeted to 45 in December, down from 61.2 in November, and lower than the 46.7 figure seen in December 2020.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange bore its way higher 4.04 points to 915.25.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher, with health-care sprinting 2.7%, financials ahead 0.3%, and energy better by 0.2%.
The five laggards were weighed most by utilities, down 0.5%, communications, backtracking 0.4%, and consumer staples, sliding 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks were flat on Friday at the end of a rough week for markets, which have tumbled this week after a spike in rates to begin the year, mixed economic data and concerns about Federal Reserve tightening.
The Dow Jones Industrials ducked 14.88 points to 36,221.59.
The S&P 500 index fell 9.03 points to 4,687.02.
The NASDAQ docked 70.47 points at 15,010.39.
The Dow is down just 0.2% for the week. The S&P has lost 1.3% and the tech-heavy NASDAQ has fallen 3.2%.
In trading Friday, GameStop shares soared more than 15% following news that the company is venturing into the crypto world with investments in a marketplace for nonfungible tokens and digital currency partnerships to create games and other items.
Elsewhere, shares of Starbucks fell about 3% after both RBC and Oppenheimer downgraded the coffee giant on the notion that the stock may have peaked in the near term and will struggle to grow profits ahead.
Also, Discovery’s stock rose 3.8% after Bank of America upgraded the company, saying that it should gain as benefits with Warner Media become clearer.
On Friday the Labor Department reported the U.S. economy added far fewer jobs in December than expected. The non-farm payrolls report showed an increase of 199,000 in December, though economists had expected growth of 422,000, according to Dow Jones.
While the headline number disappointed, there were some things in this jobs report that pointed to an improving economic picture and higher inflation. Average hourly earnings increased by 0.6%, above expectations. And the unemployment rate fell to 3.9%, the lowest level since Feb 2020 and well below the 4.1% expected.
Prices for 10-year Treasurys fell, raising yields to 1.76% from Thursday’s 1.73%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices demurred 28 cents to $79.18 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices nosed up $1.40 to $1,790.60 U.S. an ounce.
