Equities in Toronto declined in choppy trading on Friday as investors tried to gauge the impact of a sluggish U.S. jobs report on the U.S. Federal Reserve's plans to raise interest rates.
The S&P/TSX composite index bounced off its lows of the day, but was still negative 115.48 points, to close the day and the week at 15,215.26. Markets in Toronto will be closed Monday for Civic Holiday.
The Canadian dollar faded 0.17 cents at 91.53 cents U.S.
Financials declined as Royal Bank of Canada lost 1.4% to $79.37, and Toronto Dominion Bank declined 0.9% to $56.52.
The gold-mining sector jumped, with the price of bullion gaining after the U.S. jobs report. Barrick Gold added 1% to $19.89, and Goldcorp advanced 1.4%to $30.28.
Eldorado Gold shot up 6.9% to $8.65, a day after the miner reported quarterly results.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International's shares, which tumbled on Thursday after the company cut its forecast, rebounded 1.1%, at $129.22, and helped boost the health-care sector.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange sank 0.89 points to 1,000.63
All but three of the 14 Toronto subgroups were lower, as energy trailed Thursday’s close by 1.7%, financials were down 1.3%, and the metals and mining sector sank 1.2%.
The three gainers were gold, up 1.1%, information technology, clicking 0.2% better, and real-estate, up 0.1%
ON WALLSTREET
Markets in the States were all just slightly lower in late day trading after falling sharply earlier in the day.
The Dow Jones Industrials dropped 69.93 points to 16,493.37, after yesterday’s 300-point-plus plunge.
The S&P 500 lost 5.52 points to 1,925.15. The NASDAQ composite docked 17.13 points to 4,325.64.
GoPro's debut earnings report failed to impress Wall Street's extreme expectations, driving the gadget maker's stock down 12%.
Iliad dropped 7% in Europe after the French telecom firm made a surprise $15-billion U.S. takeover bid for T-Mobile USA
On the other hand, shares of LinkedIn popped 10% after the social media company posted better-than-expected quarterly results. Expedia traveled 5% higher on upbeat earnings and a 29% jump in bookings.
Tesla also drove 5% higher ding after Elon Musk's electric car maker reported strong sales and a profit that topped forecasts.
Bally Technologies hit the jackpot as Scientific Games agreed to acquire the slot machine maker for $3.3 billion U.S. Bally spiked 30% on the buyout, which also sent Scientific Games climbing 9%.
Procter & Gamble rallied about 4% after posting a solid earnings beat despite shrinking sales. Investors largely overlooked the consumer products giant's tepid outlook for the year.
Other big-name companies also reported earnings, including Clorox and Chevron.
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is scheduled to post results after the close.
Employers in the U.S. added 209,000 jobs in July. That was well shy of the 288,000 jobs that were created in June and below the gain of 230,000 jobs predicted by economists.
The weaker-than-expected jobs report could ease fears on Wall Street that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates early next year.
The U.S. government said the unemployment rate ticked up to 6.2% from 6.1%.
In other economic news, a new ISM report showed U.S. manufacturing activity shifted into a higher gear in July. However, a separate report revealed consumer sentiment dipped in July to the lowest level since March.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries hiked, lowering yields to 2.50% from Thursday’s 2.56%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices sank 69 cents to $97.45 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices strengthened $11.10 to $1,292.60 U.S. an ounce.
