The Toronto stock market managed to make its way into the green late Friday, after floundering much of the day, on mixed employment reports and concerns about mounting debt problems in Europe.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index recovered 94.36 points on the day, to finish the week at 11,223.12, even as worries continued over whether Greece, Portugal and Spain can successfully deal with huge deficits.
On Friday, Portugal’s opposition parties defeated a government austerity plan and passed their own bill allowing the country’s autonomous regions to rack up even more debt. That raised new questions about European countries’ ability to control their swollen budget deficits, which are undermining faith in the region’s euro currency.
Greece and Spain are also grappling with massive budget deficits.
The base metals sector was down, as March copper gave back two cents to $2.86 U.S. a pound. Teck Resources lost a penny to $33.88 and First Quantum Minerals lost $2.44 to $69.77.
The TSX energy sector slid as oil prices continued to head lower after falling almost $4 U.S. on Thursday. Canadian Natural Resources lost $1.09 to $69.01 while EnCana Corp. fell 43 cents to $32.53.
The financial component was off, with Manulife Financial down 24 cents to $19.20 and Royal Bank lost 15 cents to $52.86.
The April bullion contract on the Nymex declined, but the gold sector rose, as Barrick Gold Corp. advanced $1.56 to $38.01 while Goldcorp Inc. gained $2.16 to $37.74.
Brookfield Properties Corp. reported Friday that net income tumbled nearly 60% in the fourth quarter, compared to a year earlier when it booked one-time tax gains. The New York-based spinoff of conglomerate Brookfield Asset Management -- which reports in U.S. dollars -- said earnings were $181 million U.S., or 35 cents U.S. per share, for the quarter ended Dec. 31.
Brookfield Properties shares gained 43 cents to $13.61 while Brookfield Asset Management shares were ahead 35 cents at $22.65.
Oilsands developer UTS Energy Corp. says it will be able to access less bitumen than previously thought because of environmental restrictions. UTS says the Fort Hills and Frontier projects have had a total of nearly 150 million barrels removed from their contingent resource estimates. UTS has a 20% share of the Fort Hills project, as does Teck Resources. Suncor Energy owns the remaining 60% stake.
UTS shares dipped two cents to $2.50 while Suncor was up eight cents at $31.79.
In economic news, Statistics Canada said the economy created more jobs in January than expected, with employment rising by 43,000 month, against the consensus estimates for a rise of 15,000.
With this, the unemployment rate fell to 8.3%.
The Canadian dollar regained a third of a cent to 93.55 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Of the 14 TSX subgroups, nine ended the day higher. Gold shone brightest, racing ahead 4.8%, while materials prospered 3%, and information technology gained 1.4%.
The five losing groups were weighed by energy stocks, off 0.7%, health-care, 0.6% sicker and consumer discretionaries, easing back 0.2%.
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 3.23 points to 1,455.51, while the Nasdaq Canada index added 15.57 points to 727.45.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks cut losses late in the session Friday, with technology shares leading the way, following a three-session rout that had taken the market to its lowest point since last fall.
The Dow Jones industrial average fought its way into the green, picking up 10.05 points to 10,012.23, after spending much of the session below 10,000. The S&P 500 index grew 3.08 points to 1,066.19. The Nasdaq composite gained 15.69 points by the end of the day to 2,141.12.
Stocks had fallen sharply in the afternoon as worries about a growing debt crisis in Europe exacerbated uncertainty about the U.S. economic outlook. But the market cut losses and even turned higher as the dollar trimmed bigger gains and some of the selling pressure gave way.
The strong dollar again dragged on commodity prices, and energy and metal stocks. Energy is one of the biggest sectors in the S&P 500 and the weakness in stocks such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron kept any gains on the overall market in check.
Exxon and Chevron are Dow components. Other big blue-chip losers included Boeing, United Technologies, 3M and McDonald's. Market breadth remained negative, but breadth was improved.
The S&P 500 surged 23% in 2009, and 65% after hitting a 12-year low on March 9 of last year.
That momentum propelled stocks into the first half of January. But by the second half of the month, the tone had turned sourer and investors had begun to step back.
Between rally highs hit on Jan. 19 and Thursday's close, the S&P 500 has lost 8%. Analysts say that the market could easily pull back 10% or more -- the technical definition of a correction -- before staging a recovery.
Toyota’s chief executive apologized Friday for the recall of eight million cars. However, he did not announce a new recall of the popular Prius Hybrid, despite reports of brake problems.
Earlier, the company said it is also examining the brake systems of the Lexus hybrid vehicles since they used the same system as the 2010 Prius.
Toyota shares gained 3.5%.
On the economic front, the Labor Department reported that the U.S. economy shed 20,000 jobs in January, which was worse than expected. However, the unemployment rate dipped to 9.7%, the lowest it has been since August 2009.
The government was expected to show a net gain of 15,000 jobs for the month, with an unemployment rate of 10%, according to economists surveyed by Briefing.com.
Treasury prices went upward again, lowering the yield on the 10-year note to 3.56% from Thursday’s 3.59%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil fell $1.29 to $71.85 U.S.
Gold prices lost another $10 to $1,054 U.S.
