This Thursday, Oct. 2, 2014 photo shows the facade of the New York Stock ExchangeRichard Drew/The Associated Press
U.S. stocks opened flat on Friday, as disappointing earnings from Amazon Inc. were offset by gains in Microsoft Corp. after its quarterly results.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 10.41 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 16,688.31, the S&P 500 gained 0.61 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 1,951.43 and the Nasdaq Composite added 4.63 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 4,457.42.
The Toronto stock market was lower as buyers took a break following a sharp gain in the previous session. The S&P/TSX composite index declined 21.97 points to 14,464.86 after running up 175 points Thursday. At the same time, analysts have warned that the market is in a volatile phase as share prices start to recover from a sharp selloff earlier this month.
The Canadian dollar was up 0.19 of a cent to 89.21 cents (U.S.).
Traders also considered the implications of the first case of Ebola appearing in New York city. An emergency-room doctor who returned to New York after treating Ebola patients in West Africa tested positive for the virus. It's the first case in the city and the fourth in the U.S.
"Concern about the possible spread of the disease, and the potential impact of measures to contain it, is weighing on sentiment this morning," said BMO Capital Markets senior economist Aaron Goertzen.
The Dow jumped 217 points Thursday as worries about the global economy lessened in the wake of solid manufacturing data from China and the eurozone along with a strong earnings report from heavy equipment maker Caterpillar, which is viewed as a global economic barometer.
Markets in Toronto and New York are well off the worst levels of this month after investors headed for the exits on worries that indexes had run up too high amid worries about the health of the global economy. Buying sentiment was also hurt by the impending end of the Federal Reserve's key stimulus program, the massive purchase of bonds.
The interest rate meeting of the Fed next week is the major economic event for next week as markets will be curious to see if the Fed may decide to postpone the end of the quantitative easing program, which kept long-term rates low and underpinned a strong rally on stock markets.
There has also been a high degree of speculation about when the Fed might raise interest rates. Markets generally have expected a hike sometime in 2015, with sentiment pointing to mid-year.
On the earnings front, it's a quiet day in Canada following a mixed week of earnings.
In the U.S., automaker Ford reported that quarterly net income dropped 34 per cent to $835-million in the third quarter, largely due to the cost of launching the new F-150 pickup. Ex-items, Ford earned 24 cents a shares, five cents ahead of estimates. Its shares dipped 3.8 per cent.
The energy component led TSX decliners, down 0.8 per cent while December crude dropped 91 cents to US$81.18 a barrel.
December copper gained two cents to $3.06 a pound and the base metals group lost 0.55 per cent.
The gold sector shed one per cent as December gold rose $4.90 to $1,234 an ounce.
In other corporate developments, Enbridge Inc. said in a regulatory filing that its design for the Line 9 pipeline through southern Ontario has the right shut-off valve configuration to minimize the risk to waterways and reservoirs in the event of a rupture. The Calgary-based company was responding to the National Energy Board's decision to delay a restart of the pipeline because it's "not persuaded" that Enbridge has met one of the the conditions attached to the NEB's approval of the project. Enbridge shares were 21 cents lower to $52.16.
- With files from Reuters