Stock markets in Toronto opened a tad lower on Friday, with investors cautious following the release of weaker-than-expected U.S. payrolls data.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index dipped 13.68 points, to begin Friday at 12,580.28
The Canadian dollar slipped 0.39 cents to 96.27 cents U.S.
Among stocks to watch, Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd, the property and casualty insurer run by investment guru Prem Watsa, on Thursday reported a second-quarter loss due to losses on its bond portfolio. Fairfax shares subsided four dollars to $414.14
Mongolia’s prime minister said Turquoise Hill does not need to seek Mongolian parliamentary approval for a $4-billion financing package to fund development of an underground mine at the Oyu Tolgoi copper project. Turquoise shares hearkened to the news, chugging ahead 55 cents, or nearly 12%, to begin the day at $5.15.
Markets in Toronto will be shuttered Monday for a holiday.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange lopped off 0.69 points to 920.33
The 14 Toronto subgroups were evenly divided between gainers and losers. Metals and mining stocks vied for top spot with their rivals in the gold sector, each gaining 1%, while materials picked up 0.6%.
The seven laggards were weighed mostly by industrials, down 0.9%, information technology, fading 0.7%, and energy, retreating 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
American stock markets retreated from the dizzy heights of Thursday, as investors proved not so comfortable with jobs numbers announced this morning for July.
The Dow Jones fell 52.99 points from Thursday’s all-time high, to 15,575
The S&P 500 index also fell from an all-time peak, losing 5.78 points to 1,701.09. The NASDAQ faded 7.94 points to 3,667.81
On the corporate front, Dell shares rose after the PC maker announced a buyout deal with founder Michael Dell and Silver Lake Management.
On the earnings front, Toyota reported a 94% jump in quarterly profit, helped by a weaker yen.
Viacom, the media company that owns cable networks MTV and Nickelodeon. reported a jump in quarterly revenue and profit.
Shares of Weight Watchers plunged after the company reported weak earnings and announced that CEO David Kirchhoff will step down.
After the closing bell, LinkedIn reported better-than-expected results and boosted its full-year forecast. The stock surged in early trading.
AIG shares rallied after the insurer announced plans to reinstate a dividend and buy back shares.
Economically speaking, the U.S. government said Friday that employers added 162,000 jobs in July, below forecasts. But the unemployment rate did fall to 7.4%.
The U.S. Federal Reserve has repeatedly said that improvement in the job market would be a trigger for it to begin removing the liquidity it has been pumping into the market for the past few years. Some experts thought that this so-called tapering could begin as soon as September.
Prices for the 10-year U.S. Treasury jumped, lowering yields to 2.63% from Thursday’s 2.72%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slipped 75 cents to $107.14 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices were unchanged at $1,311.20 U.S. an ounce.
