Stocks salvaged a rough week with a positive reading on Friday, powered mostly by energy and consumer stocks.
The S&P/TSX gained 65.39 points to close Friday at 18,394.45. On the week, the index jettisoned 628 points, or 3.3%.
The Canadian dollar added 0.53 cents to 76.81 cents U.S.
Health-care weighed most heavily, with Tilray sliding 56 cents, or 11.6%, to $4.28, while Aurora Cannabis dropped 16 cents, or 8.3%, to $1.78.
In gold stocks, Wesdome nose-dived $1.16, or 10.7%, to $9.72, while Eldorado Gold handed over 18 cents, or 2.5%, to $7.14.
Consumer staples also felt the bruises, with Metro falling $1.17, or 1.6%, to $70.05, while George Weston surrendered $1.94, or 1.3%, to $153.78.
Energy stocks gained ground, with Precision Drilling up $2.74, or 4.2%, to $68.37, while Vermilion Energy raced $1.24, or 1.5%, to $26.13.
Consumer discretionary stocks also moved upward, with Magna International ahead $1.55, or 2.2%, to $72.72. while Sleep Country Holdings jumped $1.10, or 4.3%, to $26.63.
Among industrials, Boyd Group hiked $6.37, or 4.7%, to $142.60, while Badger Infrastructure Solutions acquired 97 cents, or 3.4%, to $29.42.
Economically speaking, wholesale sales rose 1.6% in May to $81.1 billion, mostly due to higher sales in the food, beverage and tobacco subsector and the machinery, equipment and supplies subsector.
Statistics Canada also said cross-border transactions in Canadian and foreign securities slowed considerably in May. Foreign investors acquired $2.3 billion of Canadian securities, the lowest investment since January 2021.
The agency added Canadian investors added $573 million of foreign securities to their holdings, after a record-high $29.2 billion investment in April of this year.
Finally, home sales recorded over Canadian MLS Systems fell by 5.6% between in June, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange eased back 1.65 points to 584.43, for a loss on the week of nearly 31 points, or 5.03%.
Seven of 12 TSX subgroups ended the day negative, with health-care declining 4.5%, gold slowing 1.7%, and consumer staples off 0.7%.
The five gainers were led by energy stocks advancing 1.2%, while consumer discretionary stocks gained 0.9%, and industrials were better 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rallied on Friday in response to a new round of bank earnings and promising economic data as fears of a 100-basis-point rate hike from the Federal Reserve to subdue rising inflation subsided.
The Dow Jones Industrials leaped 658.09 points, or 2.2%, to 31,288.26.
The S&P 500 regained 72.78 points, or 1.9%, to 3,863.16.
The NASDAQ Composite climbed 201.24 points, or 1.8%, to 11,452.42.
Despite Friday’s rally, all the major averages closed out the week with losses. The Dow slipped close to 0.2% while the S&P dished off 0.9% while the NASDAQ fell nearly 1.6%. The session’s moves left the S&P 500 roughly 19% off its highs.
A new round of bank results from Wells Fargo and Citigroup offered further insight into the state of the economy. Wells Fargo popped 6.2% even as quarterly profits declined 48% and the bank set aside funds for bad loans. Citigroup soared 13.3% as it beat estimates and benefited from a rising rate environment.
A day earlier, investors combed through troubling reports from JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, which kicked off major bank earnings, and also weighed the likelihood of larger interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve and looming recession concerns.
Along with fresh bank earnings, traders digested strong preliminary consumer sentiment data and retail sales that beat expectations. Those numbers appeared to soothe concerns that the Fed will hike by 100 basis points at upcoming policy meetings and indicated that consumers are bolstering retail spending even as inflation hits record highs.
Battered tech stocks also jumped on Friday. Meta Platforms gained 4.2%,, Salesforce was up 3.9% and Amazon picked up 2.6%,, while Netflix soared 8.2%. UnitedHealth increased 5.4%,,JPMorgan Chase was better 4.4%,and American Express took on 4.4% to lead the Dow’s
In other news, Pinterest shares surged 16.2% following a Wall Street Journal report that said activist investor Elliott Management took a stake of more than 9% in the social media company.
Economically, June retail sales came in ahead of expectations on Friday, rising 1% on a monthly basis and ahead of Dow Jones’ estimate of 0.9% and indicating that consumers are bolstering retail spending even as inflation hits record highs. Preliminary consumer sentiment data also came in ahead of expectations.
Treasury prices gained, lowering yields to 2.93% from Thursday’s 2.96%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices picked up $1.66 to $97.44 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices fell $1.70 to $1,704.10 U.S. an ounce.
