Markets in Canada’s largest centre hit a record high on Friday after the U.S. House of Representatives approved a new North American trade deal, also supported by gains in BlackBerry shares after its upbeat quarterly results.
The TSX Composite Index popped 94.75 points to greet noon at 17,158.79
The Canadian dollar backtracked 0.25 cents to 75.94 cents U.S.
The largest percentage gainer on the TSX was BlackBerry, which jumped 83 cents, or 10.8%, to $8.46, as its revenue and profit beat estimates, boosted by demand in its patent licensing and cybersecurity businesses.
Bombardier fell six cents, or 3.1%, the most on the TSX, to $1.89
The second-biggest decliner was Alacer Gold, down 30 cents, or 4.4%, to $6.45.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported retail sales in Canada sank 1.2% to $50.9 billion in October. The agency attributes the decline to lower sales at motor vehicle and parts dealers and at building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers.
What’s more, the agency’s new housing price index was down 0.1% in November, following three consecutive monthly increases.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange reversed course and gained 0.46 points to 545.10
All but two of the 12 subgroups forged into the positive, with information technology jumping 1.3%, industrials up 0.9%, and consumer discretionary rocketing 0.7%.
The two laggards were gold, down 0.4%, and materials, off 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose and made fresh record highs on Friday to end a week that saw solid gains as geopolitical risks abate toward the end of a blockbuster 2019.
The Dow Jones Industrials leaped 127.31 points to break for lunch at 28,504.27
The S&P 500 added 18.8 points to Thursday’s all-time high, to 3,224.17. The S&P 500 is up nearly 28% year to date with less than 10 trading days left in 2019. That would be the index’s best one-year performance since 2013, when it rallied 29.6%.
Carnival shares led the S&P 500 higher, surging more than 8% on strong quarterly results. Merck and Caterpillar both rose more than 1% to push the Dow into record levels.
The NASDAQ piled 37.96 points onto Thursday’s all-time record, at 8,925.18.
In economic news, the U.S. economy grew by 2.1% in the third quarter. Consumer sentiment data for December is slated for release at 10 a.m.
Wall Street also got a boost after President Donald Trump tweeted he had a "very good talk" with Chinese President Xi Jinping about the U.S.-China trade deal, noting "China has already started large scale purchases of agricultural product & more."
Prices for the 10-Year U.S. Treasury strengthened, lowering yields to Thursday’s 1.92%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slumped 66 cents to $60.52 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dumped $3.80 at $1,480.60 U.S. an ounce.
