Equity markets in Toronto gained marginally on Friday, supported by higher commodity markets and the U.S. Federal Reserve's assurances about its plans for stimulus withdrawal.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index increased 32.28 points to begin the last session of the week at 12,661.13
The Canadian dollar gained 0.02 cents to 96.38 cents U.S.
TransCanada Corp. CEO Russ Girling said Thursday it expects to announce potential interest in using its proposed Energy East crude oil pipeline project in the next couple of weeks.
The pipeline would funnel crude oil from western receipt points to delivery points in the Montréal and Québec City, Quebec, and Saint John, New Brunswick, areas. TransCanada shares retreated 24 cents to $46.71.
BMO raised the rating on BlackBerry to market perform from underperform, believing enterprises may start to increase deployments of BB10 now that an updated version of BES 10 is out. The company formerly known as Research In Motion collected 16 cents to $9.58.
Raymond James cut the price target on Eldorado Gold to $11 from $14, saying the company's investment case remains appealing to investors in today's marketplace given its low cost and well-capitalized position. Eldorado Gold shares took on 12 cents to $7.13
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 1.2% in the 12 months to June, following a 0.7% increase in May. This 0.5-percentage-point gain in the CPI was led by transportation prices, which rose 2.0% on a year-over-year basis in June after falling 0.5% in May.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange was positive 2.42 points to 916.99
The 14 Toronto subgroups were evenly divided between gainers and losers, with gold shining 2.3% brighter, materials strengthening 1.2%, and energy gushing 0.6%.
The seven laggards, on the other hand, were weighed by a 0.6% loss by utilities, a 0.5% stumble in global base metals, and a 0.4% downturn in metals and mining issues.
ON WALLSTREET
Investors in the States were taking a step back early Friday following worse-than-expected quarterly results from Google and Microsoft.
The Dow sagged 41.12 points to began Friday at 15,507.40
The S&P 500 index dipped 3.21 points to 1,686.16. The NASDAQ Composite sagged 30.11 points to 3,581.17
The pullback comes one day after both the Dow and S&P climbed to new record highs.
All three indexes are up sharply for the year.
The Dow and S&P 500 have gained nearly 19%, while the NASDAQ has rallied almost 20%.
Google and Microsoft reported disappointing quarterly numbers after
Thursday's closing bell, sending their shares sharply lower. Microsoft was hit by a big writedown on its Surface tablet.
Results from two of the world's biggest industrial companies -- General Electric and Honeywell -- showed signs that the global economy continues to strengthen.
Honeywell raised its outlook for the year, after the company reported better-than-expected earnings.
General Electric reported earnings and sales roughly in line with estimates, and said it saw strong growth in U.S. orders.
Whirlpool raised its guidance for the year as the appliance maker reported a significant gain in quarterly sales and profit.
Schlumberger's stock rose after the energy company reported a bump in sales and profit, driven by drilling successes on land and deep water.
Chipotle Mexican Grill's stock soared after the restaurant chain reported a jump in same-store sales and profits.
Prices for the 10-year U.S. Treasury gained a bit, lowering yields to 2.50% from Thursday’s 2.53%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices were higher by 47 cents to $108.51 U.S. a barrel.
Gold surged six dollars to $1,290.20 U.S. an ounce.
