Canada's main stock index finished Friday just above breakeven, as investors assessed Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem's warning on persistent energy-price pressures on interest rates.
The TSX Composite Index came off its highs of t he morning, but still held onto gains of 39.45 points, to greet the closing bell Friday at 36,176.55. On the week, the index gained 512 points, or 1.44%.
The Canadian dollar pushed higher 0.28 cents to 70.73 cents U.S.
Macklem said Canada has not raised interest rates yet, but the longer elevated energy prices go on "the harder that gets."
The BoC is not expected to raise interest rates at its next monetary policy decision announcement on October 28, but money markets are pricing in a rate hike of 25 basis points in December,
Aritzia lost $1.27, or 1.2%, to $149.08, after Scotiabank resumed coverage with a 'sector outperform' rating.
Elsewhere, Strathcona Resources surged $2.22, or 5.3%, to $43.94, while IPCO captured $1.63, or 4.3%, to $39.29.
Among consumer staples, Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. jumped $1.89, or 2.3%, to $83.50, while Metro hiked $2.05, or 2.2%, to $97.14.
In the utility sector, Altagas added $1.27, or 2.3%, to $56.53, while Fortis Inc. surged $1.29, or 1.7%, to $78.81.
Tech stocks provided a dead weight on the markets Friday, with BlackBerry sagging 95 cents, or 7.7%, to $11.41, while Shopify ditched $12.82, or 5.1%, to $239.71.
In health-care issues, Extendicare slipped 41 cents, or 1.5%, to $26.85, while Curaleaf lost 82 cents, or 6.9%, to $11.07.
Among industrials, Hammond Power Systems dumped $11.29, or 4.4%, to $245.75, while RB Global parted with $4.33, or 3.5%, to $119.32.
On the economic scene, the Canadian Real Estate Association reported that the number of home sales recorded over Canadian MLS® Systems fell by 2.3% month-over-month in September.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported housing starts at 248,896 vs. 220,000 expected and 242,223 in August.
Statistics Canada reported Canadian investors acquired $23.9 billion of foreign securities in August, led by purchases of U.S. shares.
Meanwhile, foreign investors reduced their holdings of Canadian securities by $17.3 billion, led by an unprecedented divestment in federal government debt instruments.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange forfeited 1.08 points to finish the week at 845.30. The week’s loss was 32.6 points, or 3.7%.
The 12 subgroups were evenly divided, with information technology sagging 4.1%, health-care off 1.6%, and industrials down 0.4%.
The half-dozen gainers were led by energy, surging 2.6%, while consumer staples progressed 1.2%, and utilities captured 1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks slid on Friday as traders headed for a mostly losing week amid a shift away from tech and artificial intelligence-related names as well as a rise in oil prices.
The Dow Jones Industrial index beat a retreat of 175.28 points to 52,002.41
The S&P 500 index dumped 84.62 points, or 1.1%, to 7,659.44
The tech-heavy NASDAQ cratered 572.99 points, or 2.2%, to 26,140.03.
Chipmakers were lower again, led by declines in Micron Technology, Advanced Micro Devices and Sandisk.
Semiconductors have struggled this week amid jitters about competition from China.
Those declines, coupled with drops in other stocks linked to AI, put the S&P 500 on pace for a losing week. The benchmark index is down more than 2% this week, while the NASDAQ has shed nearly 5%.
The tech-heavy index was on track for its worst week since April 2025. The Dow, on the other hand, has moved higher by less than 1% on the week.
Investors have also grown concerned that tech companies are borrowing too much for the AI buildout.
Shares of neoclouds like CoreWeave, which has seen its total debt rise to more than $51 billion, were down 13%, putting the stock’s week-to-date losses at more than 26%.
Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh spoke at an International Monetary Fund event in Bangkok overnight. And while he didn’t comment on whether the Fed would raise rates before year-end, traders took that as a sign that the central bank will hold policy steady later this month.
The CME Group’s FedWatch tool points to an 85% chance the Fed keeps its overnight rate unchanged at its Oct. 27-28 meeting.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury were lower, poking up yields to 5.09% from Thursday’s 5.08%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices resurfaced $3.57 to $101.84 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices added $18.80 to $4,188.90 U.S. an ounce.
