Canada’s resource-heavy main index was slightly lower on Friday tracking global optimism around the U.S. Federal Reserve ending its monetary tightening campaign soon, and on gains in miners.
The TSX fell by the end of Friday afternoon 51.98 points to 19,975.37; on the week, though, the index gained 83.31 points, or 0.4%.
The Canadian dollar inched up 0.15 cents to 75.77 cents U.S.
Tech stocks weighed most heavily on the index, as Enghouse Systems ducked 83 cents, or 2.4%, to $32.66, while Shopify ditched $2.08, or 2.4%. to $85.36.
In real-estate, Dream REIT lost 28 cents, or 2%, to $13.53, while FirstService struggled $3.52, or 1.8%, to $190.44. In energy concerns, Spartan Delta lost 45 cents, or 2.8%, to $15.15, and Cenovus Energy slid 32 cents, or 1.4%, to $22.10.
Gold shares tried to lift things up, as Eldorado Gold gained 35 cents, or 2.7%, to $13.44, while Lundin Gold gathered 38 cents, or 2.4%, to $15.99.
In materials, K92 Mining picked up 32 cents, or 5.6%, to $6.09, while Osisko Mining strengthened eight cents, or 2.5%, to $3.29.
In communications, TELUS increased 36 cents, or 1.4%, to $25.78, while Cogeco Communications improved 57 cents to $67.65.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada told us foreigners acquired $13.5 billion of Canadian securities in April, following a significant divestment in March. Meanwhile, Canadian investors added $2.4 billion of foreign securities to their holdings, after four consecutive months of reductions.
Also, wholesale trade for April came in at (excluding petroleum, petroleum products, and other hydrocarbons and excluding oilseed and grain) fell 1.4% to $80.9 billion in April. The agency goes on to say the decrease was led by the miscellaneous and the food, beverage and tobacco product subsectors.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange nicked higher 1.39 points to 613.57, for a gain on the week of 3.25 points, or 0.53%.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower, with information technology off 1.3%, while real-estate lost 1%, and energy doffed 0.6%.
The four gainers were spurred by gold, up 0.9%, materials, improving 0.3%, and communications, forging ahead 0.2%. Health-care issues ended the day unchanged.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks slipped on Friday as Wall Street closed out a huge week in which investors received a pause on rate hikes from the Federal Reserve, plus encouraging inflation data.
The Dow Jones Industrials settled into the red 108.94 points to end the week at 34,299.12. The 30-stock index was up 1.3% for the week, its third positive week in a row.
Markets in the U.S. will be shuttered Monday for Juneteenth.
The S&P 500 dropped 16.25 points to 4,409.59.
The S&P 500 was up 2.6% on the week, its best performance since March. It’s the S&P 500’s fifth positive week in a row, the first such streak since November 2021. The benchmark is now up more than 26% from its bear market low.
The NASDAQ index lost 93.25 points to 13,689.57. The NASDAQ is up 3.3% on the week, its best week since March. The index has progressed eight weeks in a row, its best winning streak since 2019.
The S&P 500 and NASDAQ are at their highest levels since April 2022.
Adobe added nearly 1% after beating results and issuing upbeat guidance, the latest tech stock to rally. AI darling Nvidia is up more than 10% this week, adding to its 192% surge this year. Microsoft added 4.7% this week and hit a record Thursday. Tech shares were the hardest hit initially when the Fed embarked on its rate-hiking campaign.
The Federal Reserve delivered what investors wanted this week when the central bank left rates unchanged Wednesday after 10 consecutive hikes. While the Fed signaled that two more rate increases were coming this year, many traders and economists on Wall Street believe the Fed could be nearly done. Earlier in the week, the May consumer price index came in at the lowest in two years.
Consumer inflation expectations fell in June, with one-year assumptions for price pressures declining to 3.3% from 4.2% in May. The headline reading from the University of Michigan Survey of Consumers came in at 63.9, higher than estimates of 60.2 from Dow Jones.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury withered, raising yields to 3.77% from Thursday’s 3.72%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices moved higher $1.08 to $71.70 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices retreated $2.20 to $1,968.50 U.S. an ounce.