Canada's main stock index lost ground on Friday amid fear 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 got pummeled 108.67 points to close Friday, the week and the month of August at 16,262.88
The Canadian dollar faded 0.39 cents to 76.63 cents
Markets across North America will be shuttered Monday for Labour Day
In the energy field, Canadian Natural Resources fell 78 cents, or 1.7%, to $44.64, and Cenovus Energy declined 27 cents, or 2.2%, to $12.08
In consumer discretionary stocks, Canadian Tire backtracked $2.27, or 1.4%, to $163.00, while Gildan Activewear slid 49 cents, or 1.3%, to $38.36.
In telecoms, BCE dipped 48 cents to $53.15, while Rogers Communications fell 42 cents to $67.37.
Among the largest percentage gainers on the TSX were cannabis companies Aphria Inc, which jumped 87 cents, or 5.4%, to $16.88, and Canopy Growth, which rose $1.95, or 3.4%, to $59.63.
In the tech sector, Shopify gained $2.06, or 1.1%, to $190.08, while Constellation Software climbed $2.89 to $994.89.
Gold crept up, too, as Kinross Gold gained two cents to $3.91.
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 4.29 points to 724.71
Eight of the 12 subgroups were negative by the closing bell, with energy subsiding 1.2%, consumer discretionary stocks down 0.8%, and telecoms sliding 0.7%.
The four gainers were led by health-care, up 1.1%, information technology collecting 0.3%, and gold shining 0.2% brighter.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks dropped Friday as the United States and Canada put off resolving their trade dispute. Several indexes closed with historic highs for the month of August, as both the NASDAQ Composite and the S&P 500 notched all-time highs this week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average faded 22.1 points to 25,964.82, with losses in Boeing and Goldman Sachs offsetting gains in Apple and Nike.
The S&P 500 squeezed higher 0.39 points to 2,901.52
The NASDAQ gained 21.17 points to 8,109.54
Despite the trade troubles, both the NASDAQ Composite and the S&P 500 notched all-time highs this week, with a 5.6% weekly rally in Amazon and a 5.3% weekly gain in Apple carrying the indexes to new records.
The Dow finished August up 2.1% and the S&P climbed 3%, with their best performances for the month since 2014. The NASDAQ clinched its best August since 2000, ending the month up over 5.7%.
Friday marks the U.S.-imposed deadline for a new trade deal to be secured by the U.S. and Canada. The latter country's trade negotiator Chrystia Freeland is expected to make a statement at 4:30 p.m. ET. It is not accurate to say talks have broken off, an administration official said, and they are expected to continue next week.
Representatives from the Canadian and U.S. governments worked deep into the night Thursday to devise an alternative to the trade agreement. By late Friday morning, Freeland said that "we're not there yet."
The talks were reportedly upset Friday morning after the Toronto Star published leaked comments President Donald Trump made to Bloomberg News on Thursday.
The president said he is not making any compromises in the talks with Canada but that he has been unable to say so publicly because "it's going to be so insulting they're not going to be able to make a deal," the newspaper reported. Stocks hit sessions lows following the news.
Shares of Coca-Cola fell nearly 1% 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.
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 lost ground, raising yields to 2.87% from Thursday’s 2.86%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices lost 33 cents to $69.92 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained a narrow 30 cents to $1,205.30
