Stocks in Toronto again stumbled soon after Friday’s open, following weakness on Thursday and a turbulent overnight session in Asia.
The S&P/TSX composite index stumbled 35.66 points to start Friday at 13,558.53.
The Canadian dollar recovered 0.43 cents to 94.16 cents U.S.
Among stocks to watch, Alicia Keys and BlackBerry will cut ties at the end of January, just one year after the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter was hired as a "global creative director" for the struggling smartphone maker. BlackBerry shares went south 28 cents to $7.93.
Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. said it would sell the western part of its Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad to U.S.-based Genesee & Wyoming in a deal worth about $210 million. CP shares hiked 57 cents to $159.94.
RBC started coverage of Great-West Lifeco with a sector perform rating and price target of $33, saying the company's core earning per share growth should be solid, and reported earnings may surprise to the upside. Great-West shares fell 19 cents to $32.09.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange inched up 0.79 points to 940
All but three of the 14 TSX subgroups were lower at the outset, weighed mostly metals and mining issues, down 0.9%, while energy and materials each skidded 0.4%
The three gainers were information technology, inching up 0.3%, utilities, gaining 0.2%, and industrials, up 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
After kicking off 2014 with a loss, stocks rebounded a bit Friday morning.
The Dow Jones industrial average added 58.67 points to start the session at 16,500.02
The S&P 500 index moved higher 5.08 points to 1,837.06. The NASDAQ recovered 3.50 points to 4,146.57.
Still, the slim gains weren't enough to completely erase Thursday's 1% declines.
Trading volume is expected to remain low Friday, as a major snowstorm in the Northeast keeps traders away at the end of the holiday week.
Though the broader market's moves were relatively muted, Twitter shares continued to surge. The social media company's stock was up more than 2%, following a 6% jump on Thursday.
There were few economic and corporate reports scheduled for release Friday, but investors were focused on December sales announcements from the top car makers.
Chrysler reported strong sales for December, and a full-year sales increase of 9%. Sales have been strong across the auto industry in 2013, as industry-wide sales are up 11% as through November.
Shares of Ford were flat after it reported a sales increase of nearly 2% for December. General Motors and Toyota are due to report December and full year sales later in the day.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries sagged a bit, raising yields to 3% from Thursday’s 2.99%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell 19 cents to $95.25 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices grew $4.80 to $1,230 U.S. an ounce.
