Equities in Canada’s largest market opened higher on Friday boosted by data showing the country added more jobs in October and strong earnings from Magna International and Enbridge.
The TSX inched up 3.92 points to open for business Friday at 16,302.09.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.09 cents at 76.53 cents U.S.
Magna International posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Friday, as its key customers ramped up production to meet recovering demand for
new cars in Europe, China and the United States.
Magna sprang up $2.70, or 3.7%, to $74.86, while those for Enbridge took on 18 cents to $37.30
Telus said on Friday it will buy data service provider Lionbridge AI in a $1.2-billion deal. Telus gained 86 cents, or 3.7%, to $23.89.
Canaccord Genuity raised the price target on Canadian Tire to $160.00 from $145.00. Canadian Tire dropped 53 cents in price to $157.02.
RBC raises target price on Norbord to $60.00 from $57.00. Norbord shares nosed ahead five cents to $45.40.
Canaccord Genuity cut the target price on Stantec to $49.00 from $51.00. Stantec shares faded 30 cents to $37.87.
In the economic docket, Statistics Canada reported the economy created 84,000 jobs in October, but keeping the unemployment rate intact at 8.9%, pretty much same as September.
As well, Western University’s IVEY School of Business said its Purchasing Managers Index for October progressed a notch in October to 54.5 from September’s 54.3, towering above the 48.2 figure in October 2019.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange added 5.89 points to 733.32.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were up in the first hour, with health-care booming 3.8%, while communications chugged along 1.5%, and utilities were better by 0.7%.
The four laggards were weighed most by information technology, down 0.6%, materials, sliding 0.4%, and gold, dulling 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks dipped on Friday as traders looked for clarity around the presidential and congressional election results. Those losses were kept in check by better-than-expected U.S. unemployment data.
The Dow Jones Industrials dropped 79.27 points to 28,310.91.
The S&P 500 lost 9.83 points to 3,500.62.
The NASDAQ tailed off 90.42 points, to 11,800.51.
Shares of Facebook, Netflix, Alphabet and Apple were all down at least 1%. Amazon let go of 2.4%, and Microsoft 2%.
Wall Street was coming off its fourth-straight positive session on Thursday and the major averages were on track for their best week in months. The S&P 500 added 6.8%, and NASDAQ was up 8.1%. That would be their best weekly performance since April. The Dow is up 6.5% week to date, which would be its biggest one-week rally since June.
The surge in stocks this week has come despite lingering uncertainty about the outcome of Tuesday’s election. Democratic nominee Joe Biden leads with 253 electoral votes, according to media projections, while President Donald Trump has 214.
Votes are still being counted in several key states including Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Georgia. Some media outlets say Biden has taken a slight lead in Georgia and Pennsylvania.
The U.S. Labor Department said that country’s unemployment rate fell to 6.9% in October from 7.9%. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected the rate to dip to 7.7%. The U.S. economy also added 638,000 jobs last month, topping an estimate of 530,000.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury were lower, lifting yields to 0.83% from Thursday’s 0.77%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices skidded 99 cents to $37.80 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices eased $4.80 to $1,942.00