Equities in Toronto opened higher on Friday, lifted by mining shares, and was set to deliver its fourth straight weekly gain as investors took comfort on the back of a strong batch of corporate earnings.
The TSX/S&P Composite gained 12.98 points to open the week’s final session at 20,533.58
The Canadian dollar gave back 0.03 cents to 79.84 cents U.S.
Kansas City Southern said on Thursday it has turned down a $27-billion bid from Canadian Pacific Railway and will delay a shareholder vote on a $29-billion deal to sell itself to Canadian National Railway if the rail regulator does not rule on the deal in the next five days.
Kansas City Southern stock opened in New York up 34 cents to $292.65. CP shares grew 14 cents to $91.10, while CN shares were down 14 cents to $135.42,
National Bank of Canada raises the rating on AutoCanada to outperform from sector perform. Shares in AutoCanada gained $2.79, or 5.2%, to $55.99.
Scotiabank raises the rating on Cineplex to outperform from sector perform. Cineplex shares tacked on 62 cents, or 4.8%, to $13.68.
RBC cut the rating on Fiera Capital to sector perform from outperform. Fiera shares ducked 31 cents, or 2.8%, to $10.70.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange regained 7.42 points to 926.18
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher in the first hour Friday, with gold surging 1.5%, materials stronger by 1.1%, and real-estate up 0.6%.
The five laggards were weighed most heavily by energy, sliding 0.4%, health-care, off 0.3%, and information technology, down0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average hit fresh all-time highs on Friday as both indexes looked to cap off a positive week on a high note.
The 30-stock index added 74.26 points to Thursday’s all-time record to open Friday at 35,574.11
The S&P 500 gained 5.43 points to 4,466.40, to improve on Thursday’s all-time high.
Among the S&P sectors, health care and communication services stocks outperformed as Moderna added 2% and ViacomCBS tacked on 1.1%. Energy and industrials again underperformed with Hess down 1.5% and United Rentals retreating 1%.
The NASDAQ ditched 3.87 points to 14,812.39.
The blue-chip Dow is up 0.8% through Thursday and the S&P 500 has jumped 0.6%, on track to close out a winning week. The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite has underperformed so far this week, down 0.1%.
Shares of Disney jumped 3.75% in morning trading after it reported blowout fiscal third-quarter earnings, helping pushing the Dow to a new record. The media giant crushed Wall Street expectations on Disney+ subscriber growth and overall revenue and earnings.
Stocks are rising to records on the back of a stellar earnings season.
Year-over-year earnings growth is expected to be 92.9%, according to Refinitiv. So far about 90% of the S&P 500 companies have handed in their quarterly report, and about 88% of them beat earnings estimates from Wall Street analysts, according to Refinitiv.
Airbnb shares fell 1.1% after the travel company issued a warning about volatility due to the COVID delta variant.
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys gained ground, lowering yields to 1.33% from Thursday’s 1.36%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell nine cents to $69.00 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices prospered $13.10 to $1,764.90 U.S. an ounce.