Canadian stocks fell on Friday as U.S. inflation figures revealed rising price pressures, exacerbating investor worries already heightened by tariffs.
The TSX Composite Index swooned 248.41, or 1%, at noon hour to 24,912.65.
The Canadian dollar eked up 0.12 cents to 70.01 cents U.S.
On TSX, Blockchain farm operator Bitfarms dropped 12 cents, or 8.5%, to $1.24, as bitcoin fell 3.7%.
Consumer discretionary fell as Restaurant Brands International declined the most, down $3.71, or 3.8%, to $94.70.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Thursday that he would respond with unspecified trade actions if Trump does impose the tariffs.
The country’s general election, expected to be closely contested, is scheduled for April 28.
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada’s reported Gross Domestic Product rose 0.4% in January with increases coming from both goods-producing and services-producing industries.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange was wounded 4.36 points to 636.06.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were in the red midday, with health-care ailing 1.9%, information technology sliding 1.7%, and consumer discretionary failing 1.5%.
The three gainers proved to be gold, ahead 0.6%, while utilities and consumer staples each nosed up 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks fell on Friday as investors grappled with ongoing tariff uncertainty and digested key inflation data.
The Dow Jones Industrials cratered 601.44 points, or 1.4%, to 41,698.76.
The S&P 500 Index decreased in strength 99.94 points, or 1.8%, to 5,593.11
The NASDAQ let go of 441.67 points, or 2.5%, to 17,3623.28.
Shares of several technology giants dropped, putting pressure on the broader market. Google and Amazon lost more than 3% each, while Microsoft and Meta each declined by about 2%.
Wall Street was headed for its fifth weekly decline in the past six weeks. The NASDAQ was down 1.9% week to date, while the S&P 500 lost 1.1% and the 30-stock Dow shed 0.5%.
Investors continue to monitor President Donald Trump’s tariff announcements, which have roiled the market. Trump this week announced a 25% tariff on “all cars that are not made in the United States,” hitting auto stocks and raising concerns of an economic slowdown.
Bloomberg reported on Friday that the European Union is identifying concessions it could make to Trump’s administration to reduce the reciprocal tariffs from the U.S. that are set to increase after April 2, when Trump is expected to announce further tariff plans.
Prices for the 10-year treasury rocketed, hiking yields to 4.27% from Thursday’s 4.37%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slumped 67 cents to $69.25 U.S. a barrel.
Prices for gold gained $28.40 to $3,119.30 U.S.