Stocks dipped a bit on Friday as caution prevailed after the first confirmed case of Ebola in New York City and ahead of European bank stress test results, due at the weekend.
The S&P/TSX composite index fell 19.35 points to open Friday at 14,467.48
The Canadian dollar gained 0.23 cents at 89.27 cents U.S.
Terminal operator Canexus Corp said on Thursday that an unnamed midstream company had cancelled its contract to ship two unit trains per week from Western Canada's first dedicated crude-by-rail facility. Canexus shares were unchanged at $3.84.
Canada's energy regulator ruled on Thursday that Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP must be allowed access to a park in a Vancouver suburb to complete technical work for the planned $5.4-billion expansion of its Trans Mountain oil pipeline.
RBC cut the price target on Autocanada Inc. to $84 from $92, with an outperform rating. Autocanada gained 24 cents to $59.14.
Paradigm Capital starts coverage on Arsenal Energy Inc. with a buy rating, and price target of $13.25. Arsenal shares were down eight cents to $8.27.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange let go of 0.53 points to 808.07.
Eight of the 14 Toronto subgroups started the session lower, with energy down 1.1%, while the metals and mining and gold groups each gave back 0.8%.
The half-dozen gainers were propped up by consumer staples, up 0.7%, while telecoms and utilities each progressed 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks were mixed early Friday, as blue-chips added to their big weekly gains.
The Dow Jones Industrials inched up 5.50 points to 16,683.40, after yesterday’s 200-point-plus gain
The S&P 500 eased 2.92 points to 1,947.90. The NASDAQ index fell 4.09 points to 4,448.70.
Procter & Gamble shares climbed 2% after the consumer-goods heavyweight said it plans to get out of its Duracell battery business and posted adjusted quarterly earnings that matched expectations.
Ford Motor Co.’s quarterly profit fell to $835 million U.S, and pretax profit fell to $1.18 billion U.S., but the figures beat Wall Street’s projections. Shares fell 2%.
Meanwhile, shipping giant UPS gained 2% after its quarterly results surpassed estimates, and Microsoft Corp. shares picked up 3% after the company posted quarterly profit and revenue that topped forecasts.
Amazon.com Inc. dropped 7% after the online retailer reported a wider-than-expected third-quarter loss late Thursday.
Investors appeared to shrug off worries about New York’s first Ebola case, which had weighed on U.S. stock futures. Sentiment got a lift from better-than-expected quarterly results from companies such as Procter & Gamble Co. and United Parcel Service Inc.
Investors may take a cautious approach Friday ahead of this weekend’s release of results from the stress tests for European banks, which come amid a raft of data showing slowing growth in Europe. The release is expected on Sunday, although a Bloomberg report on Friday said 25 banks could fail the test.
Friday, a report on sales of new single-family homes for September is due. Economists polled by MarketWatch expect sales of 455,000.
Also around the corner is next week’s Federal Reserve policy meeting. The Fed is expected to end its third-round of bond buying, which had been aimed at helping the U.S. economy emerge from the 2008 financial crisis.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained ground, lowering yields to 2.26% from Thursday’s 2.28%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dipped $1.14 to $80.95 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices hiked $3.70 to $1,232.80 U.S. an ounce.
