Canada's main stock index slipped on Friday following a report that a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) deal with the United States might not be concluded by the end of the day.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 22.21 points to move toward noon hour ET at 16,349.34
The Canadian dollar faded 0.59 cents to 76.43 cents
Canada and the U.S. will make a final push to iron out differences on a pact to modernize NAFTA on Friday, with Mexico on standby to return to talks, aimed at ending a year of hard-fought negotiations.
Markets across North America will be shuttered Monday for Labour Day
Canadian Natural Resources fell 67 cents, or 1.5%, to $44.75, and Cenovus Energy declined 25 cents, or 2%, to $12.11, among the biggest lags on the energy index.
Among financials, Royal Bank of Canada dipped 35 cents to $104.43, Bank of Montreal lost 30 cents to $107.30, and Manulife Financial declined 11 cents to $24.09.
The materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added strength, though copper prices declined 0.6% to $6,027.50 a ton.
Among the largest percentage gainers on the TSX were cannabis companies Aphria Inc, which jumped 68 cents, or 4.3%, to $16.69, and Canopy Growth, which rose $2.19, or 3.8%, to $59.87.
Trican Well Service fell eight cents to $2.89, while BRP Inc, lost $1.59, or 2.2%, to $68.71.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported that its industrial product price index declined 0.2% in July, led by lower prices for primary non ferrous metal products.
In the same month, the raw materials price index rose 0.7%, primarily due to higher prices for crude energy products.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 5.11 points to 725.53
The 12 subgroups were evenly split between gainers and losers, health-care leading the former group, up 1.6%, while gold inched ahead 0.7%, and industrials struggled to 0.2% worth of gains
The half-dozen laggards took their worst beating from energy stocks, fading 1%, while consumer discretionary stocks ditched 0.4%, and consumer staples eased back 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks struggled for gains Friday as the United States and Canada neared a key trade agreement deadline with no apparent resolution.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average faded 54.45 points to 25,932.47, with losses in Boeing and Chevron offsetting gains in Apple and Home Depot.
The S&P 500 fell 3.76 points to 2,897.37
The NASDAQ gained 7.29 points to 8,095.66, thanks to strength in Apple and Amazon.
Both the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 notched all-time highs this week, with a 5.9% weekly rally in Amazon and a 5.5% weekly gain in Apple carrying the indexes to new records. Apple gained 1.3% Friday while Amazon gained nearly 0.8%
Despite Friday's mixed results, Wall Street is set to conclude a bullish month.
The Dow and the S&P 500 remain on track for their best August since 2014; the NASDAQ Composite was poised to clinch its best August since 2000. The Dow was up 2.2%, the S&P gained 3% and the NASDAQ had surged 5.4% for the month before the opening bell.
Shares of Coca-Cola fell 0.4% Friday after the company said it agreed to buy coffee chain Costa for $5.1 billion including debt to further its venture into healthier drink options.
The move, which pits Coca-Cola against established coffee options at Starbucks and Nestle, will add Costa's almost 4,000 outlets to the world's largest soda company.
Trade concerns continued to weigh on investor sentiment this week following a report that the Trump administration remains committed to imposing tariffs on an additional $200 billion worth of Chinese goods as soon as next week.
Trade-sensitive stocks such as Boeing and Caterpillar hit their session lows Thursday following the report. Shares of Boeing dropped 0.9% and Caterpillar fell 2% Thursday.
On the data front, consumer sentiment in the United States rose slightly in August, beating economist expectations for a slight decline. The University of Michigan's monthly survey of consumers hit 96.2 in the final reading of August, better than the drop to 95.5 expected by economists
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury gained, lowering yields to 2.84% from Thursday’s 2.86%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices lost 43 cents to $69.82 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices inched forward $1.10 to $1,206.10
