Canada’s main index is on track for its fourth straight weekly rise, with technology stocks among the top gainers as moderating wage growth data both at home and in the United States fueled rate cut expectations by the central banks this year.
The TSX Composite cooled off 22.26 points midday to 21,772.30.
The Canadian dollar slid 0.07 cents at 74.25 cents U.S.
Canada’s main index is on track for its fourth straight weekly rise, with technology stocks among the top gainers as moderating wage growth data both at home and in the United States fueled rate cut expectations by the central banks this year.
Technology shares gained, with rising bitcoin miners Bitfarms gaining 21 cents, or 6.3%, to $3.56, and Hut 8 picking up three cents to $10.39.
Healthcare stocks also gained 1.5%, driven by an advance of eight cents, or 3.6%, in pot firm Tilray Brands to $2.28.
The materials sector is set to outpace its sectoral peers this week, while telecom was the worst-hit during the period.
Company-wise, shares of miner First Quantum Minerals climbed 45 cents, or 3.5%, to $13.40, after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to “overweight” from “equal-weight”.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that in January, Canada’s merchandise imports decreased 3.8%, while exports fell 1.7%. As a result, Canada’s merchandise trade balance changed position for a second consecutive month, moving from a deficit of $863 million in December to a surplus of $496 million in January.
Also, January building permits increased 13.5% from December to $10.8 billion.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange docked 1.48 points to 574.05.
Seven of the 12 subgroups were in the green by lunch hour, with gold up 0.7%, health-care improving 0.5%, and materials surging 0.4%.
The five laggards were weighed most by energy, down 0.7%, communications, off 0.6%, while consumer staples sank 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite retreated on Friday, as Nvidia’s incredible run took a breather and the market neared the conclusion of a choppy week.
The Dow Jones Industrials strengthened 53.89 points to by Friday noon hour EST at 38,845.24
The S&P 500 settled 11.09 points to 5,146.27.
The NASDAQ skidded 81.04 points to 16,192.33.
After a rough start to the week with back-to-back losses, the Dow trails 0.6% and the NASDAQ is down 0.4%, respectively, on the week. The S&P 500 has outperformed, rising 0.2%.
Though Nvidia dragged on tech, Apple rose more than 1% in Friday trading. With that gain, the mega-cap stock was on track to snap its longest losing streak since early 2022 at seven days.
The February jobs data gave some conflicting signals as to when it will be safe for the Fed to start cutting interest rates. On one hand, the number of jobs added last month was much more than expected, coming in at 275,000 compared with an estimate of 198,000 from economists polled by Dow Jones. This data can imply an economy that’s still running pretty hot.
But the unemployment rate unexpectedly ticked higher to 3.9% and wage growth was lighter than feared, offering morsels of hope that inflation has cooled enough to appease the Fed. Data on January jobs growth was also revised lower.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury stayed put early Friday, keeping yields at Thursday’s 4.09%.
Oil prices sagged 70 cents to $78.23 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices hiked $24.50 to $2,187.70.
