TSX Up on Day, Down Slightly on Week
The TSX Composite surged 66.2 points to conclude Friday at 20,937.55, for a loss on the week of 21 points, or 0.1%.
The Canadian dollar moved lower 0.05 cents to 74.83 cents U.S.
Among health-care, the leader among gaining subgroups, Sienna Senior Living gained 13 cents, or 1.1%, to $11.76, while Bausch Health Companies sprang up 57 cents, or 5.5%, to $10.98.
In energy plays, Precision Drilling gushed $3.58, or 5.1%, to $73.17, while Peyto Exploration acquired 31 cents, or 2.5%, to $12.96.
In financials, Fairfax Financial Holdings jumped $41.27, or 3.3%, to $1,282.22, while Trisura Group took on $1.01, or 3%, to $34.82.
Industrials were roughed up somewhat, with Cargojet plunging $1.84, or 1.6%, to $116.00, while Finning International shedding 48 cents, or 1.3%, to $38.07.
In consumer staples, Jamieson Wellness lost 50 cents, or 1.6%, to $30.35, while Metro dipped 36 cents to $67.62.
In consumer discretionary stocks, Aritzia doffed $1.29, or 4.9%, to $25.00, while Linamar dropped 66 cents, or 1%, to $63.17.
Friday, Statistics Canada told us employment was virtually unchanged in December, and the unemployment rate held steady at 5.8%.
What’s more, Western University’s IVEY School of Business put out its December PMI report. The index rose to 56.3 in December 2023, after a jump of 54.7 in November, and 49.3 in December 2022.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slid 0.22 points to 551.34, for a loss on the week of 1.6 points, or 0.3%.
Eight of the 12 subgroups gained on the day, with health-care haler 1.5%, with energy and financials each improving 0.5%.
The four laggards were weighed by industrials, ailing 0.4%, consumer staples dipping 0.2%, and consumer discretionary stocks, down 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 ticked fractionally lower on Friday, with all three indexes were still set to snap a nine-week winning streak after a stronger-than-expected jobs report.
The Dow Jones Industrials maintained gains 25.77 points to close Friday at 37,466.11.
The S&P 500 picked up 8.56 points to 4,697.24.
The NASDAQ was positive 13.77 points to 14,524.07, after five straight negative sessions.
The three major averages all broke nine-week winning streaks, with the NASDAQ suffering the biggest loss for the week at 3%.The S&P 500 shed 1.4%, and Dow was down 0.7%.
The U.S. economy added many more jobs than anticipated in December, with non-farm payrolls growing by 216,000. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected a gain of 170,000 for last month. The unemployment rate held steady at 3.7% in another sign of continued labour strength.
A strong labour market could mean that the Fed might potentially delay the first of its rate cuts, which traders have been eagerly anticipating. Before the strong data hit Friday, traders were hoping the Fed would start cutting rates as early as March and lower them by as many as six times in 2024. Those expectations will need to be dialed back after Friday’s report.
The three major averages are all on track to break nine-week winning streaks, with the NASDAQ suffering the biggest loss for the week at 2.7%. The S&P 500 is off 1.1%, while the Dow is listing lower 0.5%.
While December’s ISM services index represented that business activity is still overall expanding in the economy, the reading of 50.6% was nearly two full percentage points below the Dow Jones consensus estimate of 52.5% and November’s 52.7% level. A reading above 40% marks the threshold for economic growth.
One other factor weighing on the market in the new year is the cooling off of large-cap tech stocks like Apple, which has been downgraded by two research shops this week.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury fell, raising yields to 4.05% from Thursday’s 4%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices took on $1.67 to $73.86 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices nicked ahead $1.80 to $2,051.80.
Provided Content: Content provided by Baystreet. The Globe and Mail was not involved, and material was not reviewed prior to publication.
