Markets in Canada’s largest market edged higher on Friday as investors raised bets on a December interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve, while markets stabilized after the previous session's hammering.
The TSX poked ahead 20.59 points, to open the week’s last session at 29,927.14.
The Canadian dollar skidded 0.06 cents to 70.91 cents U.S.
In corporate news, Dye & Durham has been offered $272 million by Plantro to be taken private, Bloomberg News reported. Dye & Durham was unchanged Friday from its Friday close of $2.71
GFL Environmental announced secondary offering by selling shareholders. GFL shares dropped $1.54, or 2.4%, to $63.63.
On the economic scene, Statistics Canada reported its new housing price index slumped 0.4% in October, compared to a loss of 0.2% in the prior-year month, while retail trade decreased 0.7% to $69.8 billion in September. Sales were down in six of nine subsectors, led by decreases at motor vehicle and parts dealers.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange lost 2.77 points to 846.40.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups gained ground in the first hour, with gold heightening 0.8%, while materials and real-estate each advancing 0.6%.
The four laggards were weighed most by energy, down 1.4%, while industrials slid 0.3%, and utilities, off 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities rebounded Friday after New York Federal Reserve President John Williams suggested the central bank could cut rates again in December.
The Dow Jones Industrials index recovered 127.38 points to 45,879.64
The S&P 500 nicked higher 1.26 points to 6,540.02
The NASDAQ slipped 25.33 points to 22,052.72.
AI stocks, which were headed for another tough session before Williams’ comments, cut their losses in premarket trading. Nvidia and AMD both turned positive. Investors hope easier monetary policy can revive a sluggish economy and justify historically high tech-stock valuations.
Stock benchmarks are coming off a brutal market reversal in the last session and are still headed for big losses this week. The Dow at one point on Thursday rose more than 700 points as investors cheered a blockbuster Nvidia fiscal third-quarter earnings report.
The benchmark, along with the S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite, ended the day sharply lower as the Nvidia rally fizzled and worries grew that the Fed would stand pat in December on rates.
The S&P 500 is still down more than 2% week to date, while the Dow has declined almost 3%. The NASDAQ has shed around 3%.
The comments by a notable Fed member like Williams broke the equity market out of its artificial intelligence-stock slump and raised traders’ bets that the central bank would in fact cut next month for the third time this year.
Fed funds futures traders are currently pricing in a more than 70% chance of a quarter percentage point cut, a spike from the 39.1% likelihood priced in the day before
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained, pushing yields down to 4.06% from Thursday’s 4.10%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices moved downward $1.38 to $57.62 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices jumped $12.30 to $4,072.80 U.S. an ounce.
