Canada’s main stock index struggled for direction on Friday, as weakness in mining shares offset optimism over upbeat domestic jobs data and positive signals from Russian President Vladimir Putin on talks with Ukraine.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index came off its lows of the morning, but was still negative 36.34 points nearing noon Friday at 21,545.36.
The Canadian dollar recovered 0.25 cents to 78.65 cents U.S.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada says the economy created 337,000 jobs in February, thus shrinking the unemployment rate a full percentage point to 5.5%.
Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson says Canada is studying ways to increase pipeline utilization to boost crude exports as Europe seeks to reduce its dependence on Russian oil.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange let go of 7.19 points to 848.25.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were down midday, with materials slipping 1.8%, gold off 1.7%, and health-care sliding 1.6%.
The five gainers were led by real-estate, increasing 1.4%, communications headed upward 0.5% and financials, up 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrial Average headed for its fifth straight week of losses on Friday, despite solid gains on the day, as investors remain cautious amid the war between Russia and Ukraine.
The 30-stock index advanced 131.44 points to 33,305.51, helped by gains in Boeing and Goldman Sachs.
The S&P 500 moved up 3.59 points to 4,263.11.
The NASDAQ Composite dipped 46.9 points to 13,083.06,
The Dow is headed for its fifth straight week of losses as the Russia-Ukraine war continues to be an overhang on financial markets. The S&P and NASDAQ are heading for their second straight week of losses.
Week to date, the Dow is down about 0.9%. Meanwhile, the S&P is down roughly 1.5%, and the NASDAQ is off by 1.6% this week.
Elsewhere, Rivian slipped 5% after missing estimates for the fourth quarter on the top and bottom lines, while DocuSign sank 19% after issuing weak guidance for the first quarter and fiscal year.
Certain tech names dragged on the NASDAQ on Friday and continued their weakness since Monday. Zoom Video fell 3%, bringing its weekly losses to more than 7%. Meta Platforms fell 2.5% and is down more than 5% since Monday.
On the data front, the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index sunk to 59.7 in March, down from 62.8 in February, according to the report released on Friday. This marks the weakest print since September 2011.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday “certain positive shifts” have occurred in the talks between the Kremlin and Ukraine. Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reportedly said Ukraine has reached a “strategic turning point” in its war with Russia.
Treasury prices gained ground, lowering yields to Thursday’s 1.99%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices hiked $3.20 to $109.22 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dropped $14.10 to $1,986.30 U.S. an ounce.