Equities in Canada’s largest centre fell on Friday, weighed by weakness in energy stocks due to lower oil prices and a drop in heavyweight financial shares after U.S. jobs growth came in below expectations.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index ditched 27.36 points to greet noon at 15,442.55. The index is on track for a 0.1% gain on the week.
The Canadian dollar gained back 0.06 cents at 74.08 cents U.S.
The energy group retreated, as oil prices fell on concerns that U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to abandon the Paris climate pact would spark more U.S. drilling that would exacerbate a global glut.
Suncor Energy Inc declined 1.3% to $41.76 and Cenovus Energy fell 3.6% to $11.82.
Cardinal Energy shed 7.6% to $5.33 after agreeing to buy Canadian light oil assets from Apache Corp for $330 million in cash.
The financials group slipped as Manulife Financial declined 1.9% to $23.36 and its rival Sun Life Financial declined 1.1% to $44.21.
Canada Goose jumped 9.8% to $27.68 after the maker of expensive winter jackets reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss in its first earnings report as a publicly listed company.
Asanko Gold Inc rose 9.9% to $2.22, recovering some of its sharp losses since the release of a short-seller report this week
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that our trade balance with the rest of the world narrowed to a $370 million deficit in April. The agency reports exports rose 1.8% while imports were up 0.6%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange nosed ahead 0.29 points to 800.74
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive midday, as gold and consumer staples each moved up 0.9%, while real-estate gained 0.6%
The five laggards were weighed by energy, down 1.9%, health-care slid 0.5%, and industrials dropped 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities rose to record levels on Friday as Wall Street parsed through a jobs report that came in well below expectations.
The Dow Jones Industrials acquired 60.97 points to 21,205.15, and reached its first intraday record since March 1, with Boeing contributing the most gains.
The S&P 500 grew 5.65 points to 2,435.71, an all-time high,
The NASDAQ leaped 42.74 points to 6,289.57, also a new record.
The U.S. Labor Department said 138,000 jobs were created last month, well below the expected 185,000. Wages also grew less than expected, with average hourly earnings rising at a 2.5% annualized rate. The unemployment rate, however, fell to 4.3% from 4.4%.
One expert noted the U.S. economy has added jobs for 80 straight months now, the longest positive streak dating back to the 1930s.
Investors eagerly awaited the report as it is one of the last major data sets released before the Federal Reserve holds its June monetary policy meeting. Experts now say market expectations for a rate hike are near 94%.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note spiked, lowering yields to 2.15% from Thursday’s 2.22%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped 65 cents to $47.71 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices surged $9.20 at $1,279.30 U.S. an ounce.
