Canada's main stock index found its feet by midday Friday, though gains were limited by weakness in tech stocks, after U.S. chipmaker Broadcom's reduced forecast. Moreover, downbeat industrial data out of China came as fresh evidence of the U.S.-China trade war pressuring global growth.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index squeezed higher 14.81 points to greet noon hour at 16,254.07
The Canadian dollar doffed 0.34 cents to 74.70 cents U.S.
The largest percentage gainer on the TSX was Norbord, which jumped $2.09, or 7.3%, to $30.83, after BMO upgraded the company's shares to "outperform" from "perform".
New Gold followed closely behind, gaining 5.5 cents, or 5.2%, to $1.11..
Cannabis producers Hexo Corp fell 31 cents, or 4%, to $7.50, and Cronos Group dropped 89 cents, or 4.1%, to $20.94, pushing the health-care sector down.
On the economic front, the Canadian Real Estate Association reported national home sales rose 1.9% month-over-month in May, while actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity was up 6.7% year-over-year.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange eked ahead 0.13 points to 589.37
Seven of the 12 Toronto subgroups had made it into the green by noon EDT, as gold shone brighter 1.3%, materials picked up 0.6%, and industrials nosed up 0.2%.
The five laggards were weighed most by health-care, shedding 1.1%, communications, down 0.8%, and information technology stocks, down 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell on Friday as investors digested a drop in semiconductor shares alongside weak data out of China.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average came off its lows of the morning, to within 29.05 points of breakeven to 26,077.72, as Intel and Apple continued to lag.
The S&P 500 was down 6.48 points at 2,885.16, as the tech sector dropped 0.6%.
The NASDAQ Composite sank 39.62 points to 7,797.27.
Even so, the major U.S. stock indexes posted solid gains in the previous session, adding to this month’s sharp rally. The Dow, S&P 500 and NASDAQ were all up more than 5% entering Friday’s session.
Chipmakers fell broadly after weak quarterly results from Broadcom, which ditched 6.3%. The chipmaker posted weaker-than-expected revenue for the previous quarter and cut its guidance for 2019, citing “broad-based ” demand weakness and the U.S. crackdown on Huawei.
Other semiconductor stocks also fell. Micron Technology, Advanced Micro Technology and Applied Materials all traded down more than 1% lower. Dow member Intel dropped 0.9%.
Economically speaking, the U.S. Commerce Department reported that retail sales rose 0.5% in May, below the 0.6% gain expected by economists. However, April retail sales were revised higher. May sales were also up 0.5% when excluding auto, gas building materials and food.
Overseas, industrial production in China rose 5% last month on a year-over-year basis, the slowest pace of growth in 17 years.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury gained a bit, lowering yields to 2.09% from Thursday’s 2.10%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices advanced 43 cents to $52.71 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $10.60 at $1,354.30 U.S. an ounce.
