TSX Keeps Climbing

Canada's main stock index hit a record high on Friday, boosted by mining stocks, while investors shifted their focus to the Bank of Canada's monetary policy decision next week.

The TSX Composite Index gained another 26.99 points to begin Friday at 24,717.47.

The Canadian dollar was unchanged to 72.48 cents U.S.

The Canadian central bank's policy meeting is due next week, and investors have raised their expectations for a larger-than-usual interest rate cut following Tuesday's unexpectedly low inflation data.

Traders are betting high on a 50-basis-point cut at the meeting on Oct. 23, the odds of which stand at 91.7%.

A larger cut can provide a much-needed boost to the domestic economy, whose annual inflation level has dropped below the central bank's 2% target.

In corporate news, Dundee Corporation announced it acquired two million common shares of Greenheart Gold at the price of $0.50 per share. Dundee shares picked up a penny to $1.58.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange hiked 6.28 points to 615.18.

Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were in the green starting Friday, with gold up 1.9%, materials progressed 1.8%, and consumer discretionary stocks strengthened 0.5%.

The four laggards were weighed most by energy, sagging 0.7%, health-care, sinking 0.6%, and financials, bowing 0.2%.

ON WALLSTREET

The NASDAQ rose Friday, led by a post-earnings jump in Netflix, as Wall Street looked to close a record setting week.

The Dow Jones Industrial descended 143.63 points to 43,095.42.

The S&P 500 index advanced 11.55 to 5,853.02.

The NASDAQ Composite rumbled 121.05 points to 18,494.66.

For the week, the three major averages were headed for their sixth straight positive week. That would mark the longest weekly winning streaks in 2024 for both the Dow and S&P 500.

The S&P 500 and NASDAQ are up around 0.6% week to date, and the Dow has climbed 0.5%.

Netflix climbed 8% after the streaming giant beat Wall Street’s expectations on both lines in the third quarter, while reporting a 35% jump in ad-tier memberships from the prior three-month period.

Procter & Gamble also reported better-than-expected earnings, while revenue fell short of estimates. Shares were down 0.8%.
So far, more than 70 S&P 500 companies have reported earnings. Of those, 75% have beaten expectations.

Friday’s moves come after a rally in Travelers propelled the Dow to finish Thursday at an all-time closing high. The broad S&P 500 inched lower despite notching a fresh intraday high during the session, while the technology-heavy NASDAQ concluded modestly higher.

Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained a bit, lowering yields to 4.08% from Thursday’s 4.10%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices lost $1.65 to $69.02 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices added $24.90 to $2,732.40 U.S. an ounce