Canada’s main equity index was trading lower Friday afternoon amid mounting trade war tensions between the United States and China, reviving fears of a global economic slowdown.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index was off 17.14 points at 16426.72
On the earnings front -- Flight training company CAE Inc. topped expectations as it reported higher fourth-quarter profit and revenue compared with a year ago. The Montreal-based company says it earned $122.3 million attributable to shareholders or 46 cents per share for the quarter ended March 31, compared with a profit of $82.3 million or 31 cents per share a year ago. Revenue totalled $1.02 billion, up from $720.9 million.
Shares of Air Canada were higher on its bid to buy Canadian tour operator Transat AT which would boost its leisure travel business.
The Canadian dollar slipped 0.19 cents to 74.10 cents
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange added 0.55 points to 608.73
Six of the 12 Toronto subgroups were higher, with Consumer Staples up 1.67%, Industrials ahead 0.90% and Telecom stronger by 0.49%.
On the downside, Real Estate issues were down 1.49%, Energy off 1.35% and Materials lower by 1.13%.
June gold was off $4, or about 0.3%, at $1,282.10 an ounce.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks on Wall Street reversed course and turned positive Friday as investors shrugged off Chinese state media indicating Beijing was not eager to resume trade talks following Trump administration’s move to raise tariffs on Chinese imports and to target tech giant Huawei.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 67 points, or 0.26%, to 25,930, the S&P 500 advanced 0.28%, and the Nasdaq climbed 0.23%.
A spokesman for China’s Ministry of Commerce called the Trump administration’s moves to raise tariffs last week, and the threat of additional tariffs on the roughly $300 billion in annually imported Chinese so far untouched by new duties, “bullying behavior,” that has resulted in “severe negotiating setbacks.”
Chinese state media also took aim at the Trump administration’s decision to put Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. on a list of entities that are working contrary to U.S. interests, which could result in U.S. companies needed to secure special permits to sell the company chips it relies on for end products.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. shares rose 1.6%, after the company announced a deal to buy supercomputer manufacturer Cray Inc. for $1.3 billion.
Semiconductor firm Nvidia Corp. rose 0.9%, after it reported earnings Thursday evening that beat severely lowered expectations for the first quarter. Nvidia, however, declined to reiterate a fully year forecast while indicating that demand for the data-center market remains week.
The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index in May climbed to a reading of 102.4, a 15-year high, from April’s reading of 97.2. Economists expected a reading of 97.1.
Brent crude was up 4 cents at $72.66 a barrel.
The 10-year Treasury note yield was down 0.7 basis point to 2.398%, bouncing off an intraday nadir of 2.364%
