Baystreet.ca - Canada's main stock index made respectable gains approaching noon EST on Friday in thin trading volumes, while investors assessed gross domestic product data that reinforced expectations of the Bank of Canada implementing an interest-rate cut next month.
The TSX gained 73.26 points, as Friday morning became afternoon to 25,616.78
The Canadian dollar slid 0.04 cents to 71.35 cents U.S.
The composite index, which closed at a record high on Thursday due to gains for energy and industrial shares, is on track to log its fifth consecutive monthly rise.
On matters macroeconomic, Statistics Canada says September’s GDP edged up 0.1% as increases in services-producing industries were partially offset by declines in goods-producing industries.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange rallied 8.02 points, or 1.3%, to 615.71.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were in positive territory, with information technology and materials each taking on 0.5%, and gold gaining 0.3%.
The four laggards were weighed most by health-care, down 0.9%, while utilities fell 0.5%, and consumer staples slid 0.4%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange added 4.82 points, to begin Friday at 612.51.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks ticked higher on Friday at the start of a shortened trading day that will cap a strong month for equities.
The Dow Jones Industrials regained 208.81 points to 44,930.87
The S&P 500 Index recovered 33.82 points to 6,032.56.
The NASDAQ Composite spiked 153.18 points to 19,213.65.
The Dow has added more than 1% week to date, bringing its gain for November above 7%. That’s the best month for the Dow since November 2023. The S&P 500 picked up 0.7% and NASDAQ Composite has advanced 0.4%, on the week. Both are slated to end 2024's penultimate month higher by more than 5%.
Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) gained 3% and Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) rallied 5%, while Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) jumped more than 2%.
The stock market was dark Thursday and will close at 1 p.m. EST on Friday in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. There were no economic data releases or corporate earnings reports of note on the docket for Friday. Trading is expected to be light.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury jumped, lowering yields to 4.21% from Wednesday’s 4.25%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 72 cents to $69.44 U.S. a barrel.
Prices for gold jumped $19.20 an ounce to $2,684 U.S.