Canada's main stock index advanced with broad-based gains after key domestic GDP and in-line U.S. inflation data added to investor optimism.
The TSX Composite Index captured 66.35 points to move into Friday afternoon at 29,798.33
On the week so far, the TSX has gained 30 points, or 0.1%.
The Canadian dollar backtracked 0.19 cents to 71.74 cents U.S.
The technology index led the declines, with heavyweight e-commerce firm Shopify falling $4.02, or 2%, to $195.94.
Among individual stocks, Perpetua Resources jumped $1.53% or 5.8%, to $28.04 after saying it was in talks with Glencore, Trafigura, Clarios and Sunshine Silver about partnerships to refine antimony in the U.S.
Bus and coach maker NFI Group dropped $1.43, or 8.4% to $15.60, after providing updates for the third quarter of the year and saying it was actively responding to numerous bids.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced a fresh set of tariffs on branded drugs, heavy-duty trucks and kitchen cabinets that are set to come into effect next week.
Meanwhile, Canada Post workers went on a nationwide strike on Thursday after the government called for a widespread transformation in a bid to modernize operations and strengthen finances.
Canada's anti-money laundering agency imposed its largest ever penalty of $19.6 million on Peken Global Limited, operator of one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, KuCoin.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada said GDP rose 0.2% in July, up for the first time in four months.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange added 10.66 points, or 1.2%, to 930.84
On the week so far, the index has surged 26 points, or 2.9%.
Eight of the 12 subgroups were positive midday, as gold sprinted 1.6%, materials strengthened 1.3%, and energy stocks were better 1.2%.
The four laggards were weighed most by information technology stocks, down 1.7%, industrials, sliding 0.3%, and health-care, off 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was higher on Friday following the release of crucial inflation data.
The 30-stock index hiked 169.59 points to 46,116.99.
The S&P 500 recovered 8.66 points to 6,613.38.
The tech-heavy NASDAQ waned 46.48 points to 22,340.18
The market’s third consecutive day in the red on Thursday was spurred by continued losses in software giant Oracle and other artificial intelligence players amid questions over the strength of the AI trade.
The market’s third consecutive day in the red on Thursday was spurred by continued losses in software giant Oracle and other artificial intelligence players amid questions over the strength of the AI trade.
Week to date, the S&P 500 is down almost 1%. The tech-heavy NASDAQ has lost more than 1%, while the Dow has shed 0.4%. Oracle is also down more than 8% for the week.
August’s personal consumption expenditures price index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure, showed that core inflation – a measure excluding food and energy costs – ran at a 2.9% seasonally adjusted annual rate.
That was in line with what economists polled by Dow Jones were expecting.
The all-items index showed an annual rate of 2.7% as well as a monthly gain of 0.3%, in line with expectations as well. Markets continue to price in two quarter-point rate cuts at the Fed’s upcoming meetings, which is what the central bank has projected.
The 10-year Treasury yield ticked up less than one basis point to 4.181%,
Oil prices regrouped $1.30 to $66.28 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices hiked $38.30 to $3,809.40U.S. an ounce.
