Equities in Canada’s largest market finished off a week for the ages, pretty much the way they started it, with solid gains propelling the indices to all-time highs.
The TSX Composite Index gathered 74.25 points to end Friday at 17,559.02, for a jump on the week more than 324 points, or 1.9%.
The Canadian dollar demurred 0.15 cents to 76.53 cents U.S.
Again, the chief gainer among the Toronto subgroups lie in the cannabis sector, where Cronos Group ruled the roost, picking up 62 cents, or 5.9%, to $11.22, while Canopy Growth took on $1.10, or 3.5%, to $32.77.
In the utilities sector, Transalta increased in price 25 cents, or 2.8%, to $9.30, while Transalta Renewables jumped 27 cents, or 1.7%, to $16.15.
In consumer discretionaries, Martinrea International charged ahead 58 cents, or 4.1%, to $14.60, while Real Matters chugged along 37 cents, or 3%, to $12.60.
Energy stocks, however, gave some of that energy back, with MEG losing 37 cents, or 4.7%, to $7.57, while Encana dipped 21 cents, or 3.8%, to $5.35.
In the gold patch, IAMGOLD slid 16 cents, or 3.9%, to $3.95, while Wesdome Gold Mines tailed off 23 cents, or 2.5%, to $8.89.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported that Canadian investors increased their holdings in foreign securities to $5.5 billion in November as Canadian investors resumed their purchases of foreign equities.
At the same time, foreign investors reduced their holdings of Canadian securities by $1.8 billion, the first decline in four months
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 1.39 points to 584.50, for a gain on the week of 2.15 points, or 0.37%
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups were in positive territory, with health-care up 1.6%, utilities, ahead 1%, and consumer discretionary stocks advancing 0.9%.
The two laggards were energy, down 0.9%, and gold, off 0.04%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose slightly on Friday as Wall Street wrapped up a solid weekly performance that featured record levels amid strong global economic data and a solid start to the earnings season.
The Dow Jones Industrials cut earlier gains, but were still up 19.21 points to end Friday and the week at 29,329.63
The S&P 500 gained 12.81 points to 3,329.62
The NASDAQ forged ahead 31.81 points to 9,388.94. The major averages all hit record highs on Friday.
For the week, the Dow was up 1.7%, and S&P 500 hiked nearly 2% while the NASDAQ enjoyed a 2.3% gain.
Schlumberger reported Friday quarterly earnings that beat analyst expectations. CSX’s earnings also beat expectations, but the stock slid 0.2%. Big banks such as Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley all reported quarterly figures that exceeded estimate earlier this week.
Corporate earnings have also been better than expected to start off the reporting period. More than 8% of the S&P 500 has reported quarterly results thus far. Of those companies, 72% gave posted better-than-expected earnings.
Chinese industrial data for December came in better than expected, with production rising 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. The overall Chinese economy grew by 6.1% in 2019, matching expectations. To be sure, that is also the slowest growth rate for the Chinese economy since 1990.
In the U.S., housing starts soared nearly 17% in December and reached a 13-year high. That data follows Thursday’s release of better-than-forecast weekly jobless claims and strong business activity numbers from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve.
Prices for the 10-Year U.S. Treasury lost ground, raising yields to 1.83% from Wednesday’s 1.81%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices regained 16 cents to $58.68 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $6.80 to $1,557.30 U.S. an ounce.
