Canada’s main stock index rose on Friday and was on track to post a weekly gain, driven by technology stocks, while Air Canada gave up early gains despite forecasting increased bookings in the winter.
The TSX Composite index jumped 81.72 points to greet the midpoint of the session at 20,179.24
The Canadian dollar lopped off 0.11 cents to 79.49 cents U.S.
Air Canada shares lost 23 cents by Friday noon to $24.83.
The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were Aecon Group, which jumped $1.77, or 9.6%, to $20.26, after the builder posted an upbeat second-quarter earnings and oil producer MEG Energy, which rose 36 cents, or 4.5% to $8.45.
Automobile parts maker Magna International dumped $4.44, or 4.2%, to $102.57, and NFI Group slid $1.58, or 5.6%, to $26.78.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported retail sales declined 2.1% to $53.8 billion in May. The largest declines occurred at building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers (-11.3%) and motor vehicle and parts dealers
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange moved backward 7.51 points to 902.45.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were still positive by noon hour, with industrials hiking 1.1%, information technology, up 1%, and financials, better by 0.5%.
The four laggards were weighed most by health-care, down 0.8%, gold, dulling 0.6%, and materials, off 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities rose Friday with the S&P 500 hitting a new record, as all of the major averages overcome concerns about economic growth from earlier in the week.
The Dow Jones Industrials rocketed 220.55 points to break for lunch at 35,043.90, gaining for a fourth-straight day.
The S&P 500 grabbed 36.91points to 4,404.39, on pace for a record close above the closing high set on July 12.
The NASDAQ galloped 115.49 points to 14,800.09.
Strong earnings from tech stocks made investors optimistic ahead of reports next week from the biggest names in the sector. Twitter and Snap each jumped Thursday following better-than-expected second-quarter earnings reports. Twitter traded 3% higher, while Snap shot up 21%.
Facebook gained 6% on the results from its social media competitors. Alphabet added 2%. Both report next week along with Apple, Microsoft and Amazon.
American Express reported better than expected quarterly results Friday morning, giving its shares a 3.5% boost.
Honeywell also reported strong earnings, though its stock is down 1.5%. Shares of Kimberly-Clark are down 3% after reporting earnings in line with Wall Street forecasts. It also cut its forecast for the year, citing higher costs and lower volumes.
The S&P 500 is up more than 1.5% for the week and the NASDAQ is up 2.5%. Both are also within 1% of their intraday records. The Dow is up 0.9% for the week.
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys sagged, raising yields to 1.29% from Thursday’s 1.27%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices handed back seven cents to $71.84 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices doffed $4.60 to $1,800.60U.S. an ounce.
S&P Rises to New Record