Canada's main stock index rose on Friday, set for its first weekly gain in four, as a rise in commodity prices boosted energy and materials stocks, while the financials sector surged on upbeat results from big U.S. banks.
The TSX Composite towered over Thursday’s finish by 128.27 points to begin Friday at 19,628.51.
The Canadian dollar recovered 0.07 cents at 73.14 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 2.54 points to start the session at 531.41.
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher, with gold brighter 2.8%, materials soaring 1.7%, and energy rumbling 1.1%.
The two laggards were real-estate, down 0.3%, and health-care, off 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose Friday as traders pored through major bank earnings, and Treasury yields pulled back.
The Dow Jones Industrials recovered 222.09 points to open the week’s last session at 33,853.23.
The S&P 500 index regained 17.2 points to 4,366.81.
The NASDAQ index edged up 1.24 points at 13,575.45.
The major averages are headed for weekly gains. The Dow, S&P 500 and NASDAQ are all up more than 1% for the week. This would be the third positive week in a row for the NASDAQ, and the second straight positive week for the S&P 500. The Dow is also set to snap a string of three straight weekly declines.
JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo kicked off earnings for major financial firms on Friday with higher-than-expected profit and revenue numbers for the third quarter. Shares of JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo rose more than 4.3% each. Citigroup also jumped 3.4% after posting a beat on revenue.
UnitedHealth Group, the largest health insurer by revenue, gained 3.1% on earnings. UnitedHealth has the highest price per share of any Dow stock, giving it the most influence over the benchmark’s performance.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury rose sharply in the first hour, lowering yields to 4.61% from Thursday’s 4.71%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices added $2.59 to $85.50 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices were better by $41.50 to $1,924.50.
