Activity on Canada’s main stock market was muted heading into the Christmas weekend on Friday, with investors digesting U.S. economic data that offered evidence of cooling inflation.
The TSX Composite gained 42.70 points to break for lunch Friday at 19,392.36.
The Canadian dollar recovered 0.24 cents at 73.57 cents U.S.
Among individual stocks, Superior Plus continued its rally from Thursday, gaining 5.9% after the
natural gas supplier is set to acquire Certarus Ltd for $1.05 billion including debt.
Elsewhere, Shopify proved an anchor weighing tech issues, declining $1.64, or 3.5%, to $45.62, while Lightspeed Commerce ditched 50 cents, or 2.7%, to $17.89.
In cannabis issues, Cronos Group shed 14 cents, or 3.9%, to $3.43, while Tilray lost nine cents, or 2.4%, to $3.73.
Things were cheerier for energy issues, particularly, Athabasca Oil, up 12 cents, or 5.6%, to $2.27, while Baytex climbed 29 cents, or 5.1%, to $6.01.
In metals, Transcontinental grabbed 37 cents, or 2.5%, to $15.14, while First Quantum Minerals hiked 42 cents, or 1.6%, to $27.57.
Canadian markets will remain closed on Monday and Tuesday next week, owing to Christmas and Boxing Day observances.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada said this country’s GDP edged up 0.1% in October as growth in services-producing industries was partially offset by declines in goods-producing industries.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 1.86 points to 569.12.
Eight of the 12 subgroups were negative midday, with information technology down 1.5%, health-care off 1.3%, and consumer discretionary stock sliding 0.5%.
The four gainers were led by energy, rumbling 2.6%, materials, better by 0.5%, and gold, brighter 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks struggled for direction on Friday, as traders tried to recover some of the ground lost in the previous session.
The Dow Jones Industrials rallied 56.64 points to pause at noon hour Friday at 33,084.13.
The S&P 500 moved higher 6.4 points at 3,828.79.
The NASDAQ Composite Index remained in the red, however, 23.53 points to 10,452,54.
The major indexes oscillated Friday morning after the core personal consumption expenditures price index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge of inflation, came in slightly hotter than economists expected on a year-over-year basis, indicating that inflation is sticking despite the Fed’s efforts to fight it.
The S&P 500 is now down about 0.6% for the week, on pace for its third-straight weekly decline. The NASDAQ, meanwhile, has lost more than 2% this week. The Dow has been the outperformer this week, currently on track for a slight gain.
Recession fears have resurged recently dashing some investors’ hope for a year-end rally and leading to big losses in December. Investors worry that overtightening from central banks worldwide could force the economy into a downturn.
For December, the S&P 500 has lost about 6%, while the Dow dipped more than 4%, and the NASDAQ lost more than 8%. Those would be the biggest monthly declines for the major averages since September. Stocks are also on pace for their worst annual performance since 2008.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury wilted, raising yields to 3.72% from Thursday’s 3.68%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices vaulted $2.38 to $79.87 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices heightened $15.70 to $1,811.00 U.S. an ounce.