Canada's main stock index was little changed on Friday as investors digested a bullish U.S. jobs report and disappointing Canadian labour data, with gains in energy and bank shares offset by weakness in the materials sector.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 27.70 points to greet noon at 14,827.88, after floundering much of the morning
The Canadian dollar faded 0.11 cents to 91.43 cents U.S.
The Toronto market, which hit a near six-year high earlier this week, is up about 8.7% this year.
Shares of energy producers added strength, as Suncor Energy climbed 0.9% to $42.80, and Canadian Natural Resources rose 0.7% to $45.80.
Financials were up slightly, with Toronto Dominion Bank gaining 0.4% to $54.77.
The materials sector, which includes mining stocks, slipped 1%, reflecting weakness in the prices of gold and copper.
Goldcorp lost 1.9% to $24.98, and Teck Resources declined 2.2% to $23.55.
On matters macroeconomic, Statistics Canada reported that the Canadian economy produced 26,000 jobs in May, driven by gains in part-time work. But as more people entered the job market, unemployment rate was bumped up 0.1 percentage points to 7%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange shed 0.50 points to 985.42
The 14 Toronto subgroups were evenly divided between winners and losers, consumer staples heading the former group, up 1.1%, while industrials prospered 1% and information technology stocks strengthened 0.8%
The seven laggards were weighed by metals and mining stocks, down 1.5%, telecoms, down 0.7%, and gold, sliding 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
The market got a big lift Friday after a stronger-than-expected jobs report.
The Dow gained 66.03 points, on top of yesterday’s near-100-point hike, to 16,902.14
The S&P 500 added 7.67 points to 1,948.13, and the NASDAQ composite index took on 20.25 points, to 4,316.48
Friday marks the last trading day before Apple's seven-for-one stock split goes into effect. The stock is trading around $648 U.S. today, and so it will be under $100 U.S. when it opens on Monday. The move doesn't change anything about the company, except making it easier for regular folk to buy the stock. So far today, shares are flat.
Crumbs Bake Shop, facing bankruptcy and practically a penny stock at 26 cents U.S. a share, is down around 9%. In other snacks news, Diamond Foods shares have fallen about 11.5% in early trading. Diamond, the company behind Emerald Nuts and Pop Secret, is out of favor with investors after delivering poor earnings and mediocre sales in its quarterly filing yesterday.
Bank of America is negotiating a deal with the Justice Department that could lead to a $12-billion U.S. settlement related to the bank's mortgage banking practices. So far the stock is up modestly.
Amazon, which is in the midst of a tiff over book publication rights with Hachette, is up about 1.5% this morning. Netflix, which premiers the second season of its hit show "Orange is the New Black" today is up about 0.7%.
Economically speaking, the U.S. Labor Department said the economy created 217,000 jobs in May, more than the 200,000 expected by economists
That's not as much as the 282,000 jobs created in April, but it's enough to get America back to where the labour market was before the recession. The unemployment rate also held steady for May at 6.3%.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries dropped, raising yields back to Thursday’s 2.58%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil prices subtracted 16 cents to $102.31 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices fell 60 cents to $1,252.70 U.S. an ounce.
