Stocks in Toronto Roar into Weekend

Indexes in Toronto followed their American cousins Friday and moved higher, climbing on the backs of resource and tech stocks.

The TSX jumped 120.08 points to close Friday at 22,320.87. On a short week, the TSX docked 144 points, or 0.64%. Markets in Canada were closed Monday for Victoria Day.

The Canadian dollar hiked 0.39 cents at 73.21 cents U.S.

On a weekly basis, the benchmark index looks set for its biggest drop since mid-April, having dipped 141 points, or 0.6% since last Friday.

Among the gaining groups, gold was king, and Iamgold led that group, taking on 20 cents, or 3.8%, to $5.51, while New Gold jumped nine cents, or 3.5%, to $2.68.

In materials, Dundee Precious Metals climbed 32 cents, or 2.9%, to $11.22, while Fortuna Silver Mines strengthened 31 cents, or 3.9%, to $8.25.

Tech stocks also performed well, with Computer Modelling Group sprinting $1.12, or 9.9%, to $12.43, while Quarterhill Inc. acquired 12 cents, or 7.3%, to $1.77.

Communications slid, however, with Telus down 28 cents, or 1.2%, to $22.21, while BCE lost 54 cents, or 1.2%, to $45.89.

In real-estate, Boardwalk REIT units fell 81 cents, or 1.1%, to $70.53, while Granite REIT dipped 61 cents to $68.19.

In matters economic, retail sales decreased 0.2% to $66.4 billion in March. On a weekly basis, the benchmark S&P/TSX index looks set for its biggest drop since mid-April.

Traders now anticipate the Bank of Canada to cut interest rates at its June 5 monetary policy meeting with a 60% probability, owing to the drop in inflation and lackluster economic growth.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 6.12 points, or 1%, to 607.95, but suffered a loss on the week of 7.22 points, or 1.17%.

All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher on the session, with gold better by 0.9%, materials and information technology each moved up 0.6%.

The two laggards proved to be communications, which lost 0.2%, and real-estate capsizing 0.1%.

ON WALLSTREET

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The NASDAQ Composite closed Friday at a fresh record high as gains in chipmaker Nvidia outweighed worries that the Federal Reserve will delay interest rate cuts.

The Dow Jones Industrials finished above water 4.33 points to end the week at 39,069.59.

The S&P 500 regained 36.88 points to 5,304.72.

The NASDAQ vaulted 184.76 points, or 1.1%, to 16,920.79.

Week to date, the S&P 500 inched up just 0.03%. The tech-heavy NASDAQ outperformed, with a gain of 1.41%. Meanwhile, the Dow shed 2.33%, marking its first negative week in five.

Nvidia shares climbed around 2.6% Friday as enthusiasm continued over its blockbuster earnings report, pushing the shares above $1,000 for the first time. The bullish sentiment on the AI giant and other tech names powered the market higher, even as concerns the Fed will not lower rates this summer lingered.

Several tech names were higher on Friday. Advanced Micro Devices hiked 3.7%, and Intel rose 2.1%. Meta took on 2.7% and Netflix shares rallied 1.7% each.

Demand for durable goods was much higher than expected in April, the Commerce Department reported Friday. Orders for long-lasting items such as appliances, cars and airplanes rose 0.7% for the month, slightly below the 0.8% increase in March but far better than the

Dow Jones consensus estimate for a 1% decline. Excluding transportation items, orders still accelerated 0.4%. However, new orders were flat, excluding defense.

Prices for the 10-year Treasury were up slightly, lowering yields to 4.47% from Thursday’s 4.48%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices advanced 85 cents to $77.72 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices slid $2.50 to $2,334.70.