Equity markets in Toronto rose on Friday for a fourth straight session, as investors digested positive Canadian jobs data and a disappointing U.S. labour report.
The S&P/TSX composite index pointed up 19.21 points to begin Friday at 13,732.61
The Canadian dollar spiked 0.57 cents to 90.89 cents U.S.
Baytex Energy Corp has agreed to buy Aurora Oil & Gas Ltd for $2.6 billion including debt, targeting the Australian company's Texas shale oil assets and driving its shares to a 15-month high. Baytex shares capsized $2.61, or 6.3%, to $39.02
Gluskin Sheff said on Thursday its quarterly profit more than doubled due to rising assets under management and higher performance fees, prompting it to announce a special dividend of $1.40 a share. Gluskin shares spiked $1.30, or 4.5%, to $30.10
Environmental groups are stepping up efforts to convince Canadian authorities to reject a major new pipeline to the east coast, with one think tank saying on Thursday that filling the new line would generate up to 45 percent more carbon emissions than the controversial
TransCanada's Keystone XL. TransCanada shares eked up seven cents to $48.40
On matters economic, figures released by Statistics Canada revealed that 29,000 jobs were created last month – mostly full-time -- and that the unemployment rate dipped two-10ths of a percentage point to stand at 7%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange inched up 0.09 points to 952.89
All but four of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher in the session’s first hour. Gold shone 1.1% brighter, while consumer staples climbed 0.8% and materials gained 0.7%.
The four laggards were weighed by energy, sliding back 0.5%, while information technology skidded 0.2%, and health-care was 0.02% to the bad.
ON WALLSTREET
The major American stock indices all rose Friday despite a tepid government jobs report showed that only 113,000 jobs were created in January.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 75.29 points to 15,703.82.
The S&P 500 index added 11.93 points to 1,785.36. The NASDAQ grew 31.81 points to 4,088.93.
Stocks have had a choppy week of ups and downs. After sinking over 300 points Monday, the Dow logged its biggest gain of the year Thursday.
On the corporate front, shares of Apple rose after the Wall Street Journal reported that CEO Tim Cook said the company bought back a big chunk of its own stock after its disappointing earnings report last month.
LinkedIn shares dropped over 7% after the professional networking site reported guidance that missed forecasts.
News Corp shares jumped following quarterly earnings that beat expectations.
Shares of Outerwall Inc. surged nearly 12% on news that the company plans to buy back $350 million U.S. worth of stock.
Economically speaking, the unemployment rate ticked down to 6.6%.-- its lowest level in five years. Economists expected the U.S. economy to have added 178,000 jobs.
While some economists warned that a weak jobs report could be expected due to unusually cold weather in January, Friday's number follows a weak December report in which the economy added a paltry 75,000 jobs.
But the poor job growth could mean that the U.S. Federal Reserve will pause on pulling back, or tapering, its monthly bond purchases at its next meeting in March And so analysts opine that that may be why markets were higher at Friday’s open.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained ground, lowering yields to 2.69% from Thursday’s 2.70%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices took on 37 cents to $98.22 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices rose $1.80 to $1,259.00 U.S. an ounce.
