Equities
Canada’s main stock index advanced early Friday helped by a rise in metal prices. On Wall Street, key indexes were slightly weaker.
At 9:39 a.m. ET, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was up 50.29 points, or 0.24 per cent, at 20,618.13. The index was up more than 2 per cent for the week heading into Friday’s session.
In the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 5.07 points, or 0.01 per cent, at the open to 34,902.04. The S&P 500 opened lower by 7.12 points, or 0.16 per cent, at 4,497.98, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 36.85 points, or 0.26 per cent, to 13,889.20 at the opening bell.
On Friday, the auto sector will be in focus after nearly 13,000 U.S. workers went on strike at Ford, GM and Stellantis factories south of the border. It was the first time members of the United Auto Workers walked out on all three companies simultaneously.
The Globe’s Eric Atkins writes this morning that experts say a U.S. work stoppage could have an impact in Canada, hobbling the tightly integrated auto sector as it tries to resume usual operations after the pandemic disruptions. The action in the United States comes ahead of the Sept. 18 strike deadline for 5,680 unionized workers at Ford of Canada. The Unifor members, along with their counterparts at GM and Stellantis, gave their representatives an overwhelming strike mandate as the union targets Ford for intensive bargaining toward a contract that will set the pattern for negotiations with GM and Stellantis.
Elsewhere, investors got a reading on the Canadian housing market Friday morning.
The Canadian Real Estate Association said national home sales fell 4.1 per cent month-over-month in August but were up 5.3 per cent compared with the same month last year. The MLS Home Price Index rose 0.4 per cent month-over-month and was also up 0.4 per cent year-over-year.
On Wall Street, traders will be watching the second day of trading for chip design company Arm Holdings, which saw its stock climb nearly 25 per cent in its debut on the Nasdaq on Thursday. Shares were up about 3 per cent shortly after the North American open.
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.89 per cent by midday. Britain’s FTSE 100 added 0.83 per cent. Germany’s DAX gained 1.1 per cent and France’s CAC 40 was up 1.70 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei added 1.1 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.75 per cent.
Commodities
Crude prices were higher and on track for a third week of gains, buoyed by better-than-expected economic news out of China.
The day range on Brent was US$93.86 to US$94.63 in the early premarket period. The range on West Texas Intermediate was US$90.37 to US$91.15. Both benchmarks are up about 4 per cent for the week so far.
Prices got a life early Friday from figures showing China’s industrial output and retail sales grew at a greater-than-forecast pace in August. China is one of the world’s top crude consumers and recent signs of a slowing economy tempered market sentiment in recent months.
“The better-than-expected industrial production, retail sales data from China this morning and news that the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) cut the required reserves for banks for the second time this year to boost market liquidity are giving a further support to the oil bulls looking for reasons to ignore the overbought market conditions,” Swissquote senior analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya said.
In other commodities, spot gold rose 0.4 per cent to US$1,917.59 per ounce by early Friday morning. Gold dropped to near US$1,900 level, its lowest since Aug. 23, on Thursday. U.S. gold futures gained 0.3 per cent to US$1,938.90.
Currencies
The Canadian dollar was steady, trading just above the 94-US-cent market early Friday morning, while its U.S .counterpart pulled back slightly from the six-month high seen during the previous session.
The day range on the loonie was 73.95 US cents to 74.11 US cents in the predawn period. The Canadian dollar has gained nearly 1 per cent against its U.S. counterpart over the past five days.
On world markets, the U.S. dollar index was down 0.2 per cent on the day at 105.22, having eased from Thursday’s six-month peak of 105.43, according to figures from Reuters. The index is on track for its ninth consecutive weekly gain.
The euro was up 0.2 per cent at US$1.06625, having recovered slightly from Thursday’s multi-month low of $1.0632, Reuters reported. Britain’s pound was up 0.2 per cent at US$1.2438.
More company news
Media entrepreneur Byron Allen has made a US$10-billion bid to buy Walt Disney’s ABC television network and assets including the FX and National Geographic cable channels, a spokesperson for Allen said on Friday. Disney has also held exploratory discussions about selling ABC to regional TV station operator Nexstar Media, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday. The discussions come after Disney CEO Bob Iger said in July the company could sell some of its traditional TV assets, which have struggled for years due to the rise of streaming services. -Reuters
Britain’s competition regulator on Friday cleared auto parts provider LKQ’s deal to buy Canada’s Uni-Select after LKQ agreed to divest Uni-Select’s UK business. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it considers the divestiture of GSF Car Parts as reasonable, and the Uni-Select deal will not be referred to further investigation. -Reuters
Economic news
(8:30 a.m. ET) Canadian manufacturing sales and new orders for July.
(8:30 a.m. ET) Canada’s international securities transactions for July.
(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. import prices for August.
(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. Empire State Manufacturing Survey for September.
(9 a.m. ET) Canadian existing home sales and average prices for August.
(9 a.m. ET) Canada’s MLS Home Price Index for August.
(9:15 a.m. ET) U.S. industrial production for August.
(10 a.m. ET) U.S. University of Michigan consumer sentiment for September.
With Reuters and The Canadian Press
Terry Weber