TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index gained almost 100 points Friday on strength in technology, base metal and financial stocks, while U.S. markets also moved higher.
It was a positive end to the week after Thursday’s backslide, which saw investors sour on Microsoft and Meta despite strong earnings reports.
Markets are looking for perfection from the mega-cap tech names, said Allan Small, senior investment adviser at IA Private Wealth.
“It was a silly reaction to, I thought, two fantastic earnings reports by Meta and Microsoft. I’m quite surprised,” said Small.
A strong report after the bell from Amazon helped turn things around Friday, with Microsoft gaining back one per cent as Amazon rose by more than six per cent.
The e-commerce giant reported higher profits than expected by analysts.
“I think it was a reason for investors to buy in after maybe a couple of days of soft markets,” said Small.
“Overall, today is a charge higher.”
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 288.73 points at 42,052.19. The S&P 500 index was up 23.35 points at 5,728.80, while the Nasdaq composite was up 144.77 points at 18,239.92.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 98.29 points at 24,255.16.
Intel shares also rallied after its revenue and forecast beat expectations. Meanwhile, shares in Apple fell after its revenue growth forecast for the holiday quarter disappointed.
After a busy week of earnings, next week will bring the U.S. election on Tuesday followed by the next U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate decision Wednesday.
“Next week will be interesting to say the least,” said Small.
The election still feels like a “coin toss,” he said, but expectations for the Fed are clearer: he sees the central bank announcing a quarter-percentage-point cut.
“I just don’t see a catalyst coming from the Fed,” he said.
“If and when they do cut 25 basis points, I think that’s already baked in.”
Friday also brought a weak jobs report in the U.S., with the economy adding just 12,000 jobs compared with the 115,000 expected. Two hurricanes during the month and a strike at Boeing weighed on the report.
Factoring out the short term effects, the numbers were more or less as predicted, said Small, adding to the case for a quarter-percentage-point cut from the Fed on Wednesday.
The Canadian dollar traded for 71.78 cents US compared with 71.86 cents US on Thursday.
The December crude oil contract was up 23 cents at US$69.49 per barrel and the December natural gas contract was down five cents at US$2.66 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was down 10 cents at US$2,749.20 an ounce and the December copper contract was up three cents at US$4.37 a pound.