Markets in Toronto felt the bad vibes early in the session on Friday, as disappointing earnings from Google and the like weighed on markets.
The S&P/TSX composite fell 25.48 points to begin the week’s last session at 12,440.64
The Canadian dollar slid 0.55 cents to 100.95 cents U.S.
The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission blocked BCE Inc's $3-billion takeover of Astral Media on Thursday, declaring the deal would give too much power to BCE, already the country's biggest telecoms company and owner of numerous TV and radio assets. Shares in Astral plummeted $7.51, or nearly 16%, to $39.49.
Harry Winston Diamond Corp. said on Thursday it had received various indications of interest regarding a potential purchase of its luxury brand business, but said it is not in active negotiations regarding any such transaction. Winston shares tacked on 22 cents to $13.50.
Sun Life Financial said it is committed to Britain, it said Friday after the Financial Times reported it had shelved plans to sell its British division. Sun Life shares ducked back 27 cents to $24.50.
On the economic scroll, inflation advanced at the same rate in September as it did in August. Figures released this morning by Statistics Canada revealed that consumer prices rose 1.2% in the 12 months to September, powered mostly by hikes in prices for gasoline and electricity.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange faded 2.78 points to 1,309.56
Nine of the 14 Toronto subgroups were down at the outset. Consumer discretionary stocks fell 0.8%, information technology was off 0.5%, telecoms were down 0.4%.
Among the five gainers, gold led the way, up 0.5%, while the metals and mining and global base metal groups took on 0.2% each.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks opened lower Friday as investors sorted through a weak slate of earnings and await a reading on the housing market.
The Dow Jones Industrial average staggered 111.41 points to 13,437.50. Ironically, it comes on the 25th anniversary of “Black Monday”, when the Dow lost 22% of its value in just one October day.
The S&P 500 index faded 8.35 to 1,448.99, while the Nasdaq was negative 25.63 to 3,047.23
The tech sector continues to disappoint after two of the largest companies, Microsoft and Google, reported results that fell short of expectations.
Moreover, General Electric reported results Friday morning that fell short of expectations, sending shares more than 1.5% lower.
Honeywell posted third-quarter profits that topped forecasts, but revenue disappointed. Shares slipped slightly.
McDonald's logged revenue that was roughly in line with expectations, but its quarterly profit came in lower than anticipated.
Microsoft shares slipped more than 2%, after the company reported third-quarter sales that came in flat late Thursday.
Sandisk shares climbed 8%, following quarterly results late Thursday that trounced expectations.
Economically speaking, the National Association of Realtors will release its figures on existing home sales for September this morning.
Sales are expected to come in at an annual rate of 4.70 million, according to a survey of analysts by Briefing.com, down from 4.82 million in August.
The price of the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury gained, weighing the yield down to 1.80% from Thursday’s 1.83%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 72 cents to $92.82 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices were down nine dollars to $1,735.70 U.S. an ounce.
