Canada’s main stock index edged higher on Friday, buoyed by gains in real estate stocks, while concerns over U.S. trade deals ahead of the looming July 9 tariff deadline weighed on sentiment.
The S&P/TSX composite index hit a fresh record high and was last up 0.1 per cent at 27055.24 points. The index was on track to log a weekly gain.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Washington will start sending letters to countries on Friday specifying what tariff rates they will face on imports to the United States.
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mr. Trump are aiming to reach some form of trade deal by July 21.
“The threat of further global tariffs remains… but the most severely negative global trade scenarios still look less likely than they did a few months ago,” economists at RBC Economics said in a note.
Data on Friday showed Greater Toronto Area home sales rose for a third straight month in June and prices extended their recent decline.
On the TSX, real estate stocks led sectoral gains, rising 1.4 per cent. Allied Properties up 2 per cent, Dream Industrial REIT advanced 1.6 per cent, among the top gainers on the benchmark index.
Mining shares edged 0.1 per cent higher, energy shares were flat.
Copper prices retreated on Friday. Copper miners Capstone Copper down 1.3% and Ero Copper down 1.1 per cent, were among the bottom performers on the main index.
S&P’s Canada services PMI data on Friday showed that Canada’s services economy contracted at a higher rate in June with U.S. trade policy uncertainty leading to decreased activity and increased cost pressures.
Global stocks slipped on Friday as Mr. Trump got his signature tax cut bill over the line and attention turned to his July 9 deadline for countries to secure trade deals with the world’s biggest economy.
The U.S. dollar also fell against major currencies, with U.S. markets already shut for the holiday-shortened week, as traders considered the impact of Mr. Trump’s sweeping spending bill that is expected to add an estimated US$3.4-trillion to the national debt.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.5 per cent, with banks, mining-related stocks and retailers among the top laggards.
U.S. S&P 500 futures edged down 0.6 per cent, following a 0.8-per-cent overnight advance for the cash index to an all-time closing peak. Wall Street was closed on Friday for the Independence Day holiday.
Mr. Trump said Washington would start sending letters to countries on Friday specifying what tariff rates they would face on exports to the United States, a clear shift from earlier pledges to strike scores of individual deals before a July 9 deadline when tariffs could rise sharply.
Investors are “now just waiting for July 9”, said Tony Sycamore, an analyst at IG, with the market’s lack of optimism for trade deals responsible for some of the equity weakness in export-reliant Asia, particularly Japan and South Korea.
At the same time, investors cheered a surprisingly robust U.S. jobs report on Thursday, sending all three of the main U.S. equity indexes climbing in a shortened session.
“The U.S. economy is holding together better than most people expected, which suggests to me that markets can easily continue to do better (from here),” Sycamore said.
Following Thursday’s close, the House narrowly approved Mr. Trump’s signature, 869-page bill, which averts the near-term prospect of a U.S. government default but adds trillions to the national debt to fuel spending on border security and the military.
Mr. Trump said he expected “a couple” more trade agreements, after announcing a deal with Vietnam on Wednesday to add to framework agreements with China and Britain as the only successes so far.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier this week that a deal with India was close. However, progress on agreements with Japan and South Korea, once touted by the White House as likely to be among the earliest to be announced, appears to have broken down.
The U.S. dollar index had its worst first half since 1973 as Mr. Trump’s chaotic roll-out of sweeping tariffs heightened concerns about the U.S. economy and the safety of Treasuries, but had rallied 0.4 per cent on Thursday before retracing some of those gains on Friday.
The euro added 0.2 per cent to $1.1778, while sterling held steady at $1.3662 as British assets steadied following investor fright over the last two days at a tearful appearance by Finance Minister Rachel Reeves in parliament on Wednesday.
The U.S. Treasury bond market was closed on Friday for the holiday, but 10-year yields rose 4.7 basis points (bps) to 4.34 per cent, while the 2-year yield jumped 9.3 bps to 3.882 per cent.
Gold firmed 0.4 per cent to US$3,336 per ounce, on track for a weekly gain as investors again sought refuge in safe-haven assets due to concerns over the U.S.’s fiscal position and tariffs.
Brent crude futures fell 57 US cents to US$68.23 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 66 US cents to US$66.34, as Iran reaffirmed its commitment to nuclear non-proliferation.
Reuters
