Canadian stocks made headway Friday with energy and industrial companies lifting the market higher, on relief that China’s second-quarter economic growth met expectations.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index advanced 89.06 points to end a turbulent week at 11,514.53
The Canadian dollar hiked 0.41 cents at 98.56 cents U.S.
Energy stocks saw widespread gains as the Toronto trading week drew toward a close, with Second Wave Petroleum climbing six cents, or 7.6%, to 85 cents, and Class A shares of Calvalley Petroleum adding 14 cents, or 6.6%, to $2.26.
Elsewhere in the oil patch, Suncor galloped ahead 61 cents, or 2.1%, to $29.46, while Imperial Oil gathered 36 cents to $42.44.
Also higher, shares of Montreal-based Garda World Security Corp. rose 28 cents, or 3.5% to $8.25, after announcing a subsidiary would acquire privately held McKinnon Services.
Among gold concerns, Barrick Gold gathered 16 cents to $35.33, with Goldcorp. Inc. tacked on 81 cents, or 2.4%, to $34.49.
The financial world saw Royal Bank travel 28 cents higher to $52.46, while Bank of Montreal gained 20 cents to $57.40
In economic matters, Capital Economics analysts that Canada’s economy likely experienced second-quarter growth of 1.7%, which would be below the 1.9% rate seen in the two previous quarters.
China’s growth in gross domestic product met economists’ targets, expanding at a 7.6% rate from the previous year.
However, this was the slowest rate in three years, downshifting from an 8.1% rate during the first three months of 2012.
Following surprising interest-rate cuts last week, market observers had expected that China’s economic data would turn out to be much worse, meaning that not-as-bad numbers can be interpreted as positive for the market
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange took on 17.77 points to 1,186.96. The Nasdaq Canada index improved 3.73 points to 345.13.
All but one of the 14 Toronto subgroups stayed positive throughout the day. Metals and mining vaulted 2.5%, energy was up 1.6% and global base metals strengthened 1.5%.
Information technology was the lone laggard, sinking 0.2% on the day.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks rallied Friday, with the Dow and S&P 500 snapping a six-day losing streak, as JPMorgan Chase reported stronger-than-expected second-quarter earnings despite a trading loss of $5.8 billion U.S. so far this year.
The Dow Jones Industrials zoomed 203.82 points, or 1.6%, to finish the week at 12,777.10
The S&P 500 added 22.01 points to 1,356.77. The Nasdaq Composite Index spiked 42.28 points to 2,908.47.
Shares of JPMorgan Chase soared almost 6%. In addition to earnings, JPMorgan also revealed that traders involved in the loss could lose as much as two years of income and that they no longer work at the bank.
Other major U.S. banks also rose on Friday. Shares of Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs were all up between 3% and 5%.
Wells Fargo posted earnings of 82 cents on $21.4 billion U.S. in revenue, on par with expectations. On Thursday, the Department of Justice announced the bank agreed to pay $175 million U.S. to settle allegations that it discriminated against minority borrowers. Shares rose more than 3%.
Global banking giant HSBC will face scrutiny on Capitol Hill on Tuesday over its allegedly lax protections against money laundering by organized criminals and terrorist groups. It's not clear if or how much HSBC may be fined over its alleged lapses, though the Financial Times speculated that the bank could be on the hook for up to $1 billion U.S, citing analyst estimates.
Investors also reacted to comments from Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart that stimulus action may be coming down the pike.
On Friday, Moody's downgraded Italy's government debt two levels, citing an increased likelihood the country will be slammed by higher borrowing costs. Yields on the Italian 10-year bonds rose at 6.06%.
But analysts say that it's not all bad news for Italy, as an auction of three-year bonds sold at an average yield of 4.65%, down from 5.3% in mid-June.
Economically speaking, Washington reported prices in June rose by 0.1%, despite expectations that they would fall by more than half a percentage point.
The University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment Index for July fell to 72, from 72.2 the prior month. The reading was below expectations.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury faded, pushing the yield up to 1.50% from Thursday’s 1.48%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for August delivery gained $1.19 to $87.27 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for August delivery rose $26.70 to settle at $1,592.00 U.S. an ounce.
