Daily Wrap-up: TSX ends the week on a high

TSX ends the week on a high... US, Canada work together on VW retests... Blackberry boss hopes for ripe future... Concordia public offer to raise $520 million... Tourism sector gains...

Steve Randall
TSX ends the week on a high
The Toronto Stock Exchange ended Friday’s session with gains as oil stayed strong and investors considered yesterday’s Fed chair’s speech and today’s US GDP data which exceeded expectations at 3.9 per cent.

Wall Street was mixed as the session closed with the Dow outperforming both the S&P500 and the Nasdaq which both closed with losses.

Europe shrugged off the ongoing drama of the emissions scandal to close higher. Asian markets closed broadly lower earlier in the day.
 
The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 39.90 (0.30 per cent)
The Dow Jones closed up 113.4 (0.70 per cent)
Oil is trending higher (Brent $48.43, WTI $45.59 at 4.25pm)
Gold is trending higher (1145.90 at 4.25pm)
The loonie is valued at U$0.7508
 
US, Canada work together on VW retests
Canada will work with the US to retest VW vehicles affected by the emissions scandal. Environment Canada and the EPA will co-ordinate testing of thousands of diesel vehicles once recall solutions have been finalized. In total around 600,000 vehicles are believed to be affected in North America, 100,000 of them in Canada.
 
Blackberry boss hopes for ripe future
Second-quarter results for Ontario’s Blackberry made for painful reading but boss John Chen is optimistic about future growth. Revenue was a disappointing $490 million, down 46.5 per cent and missing analysts’ estimates of $610 million by some margin. Net income was $51 million, which although lower than the $68 million from Q1 2015 is far in excess of the $205 million loss for Q2 2014. CEO Chen has promised that this is the low point in the turnaround and says there will be $500 million in software revenue by March 2016.
 
Concordia public offer to raise $520 million
Canadian healthcare firm Concordia is set to raise U$520 million from a share issue with commitments already secured. The Ontario firm announced the public offering Monday and has sold at $65 per share with 8 million sold.
 
Tourism sector gains
StatsCan said Friday that tourism spending in Canada rose 0.7 per cent in the second quarter, after increasing 0.6 per cent in the first. Spending by both Canadians at home and international visitors in Canada was up. The 1.7 per cent rise in spending by international visitors was helped by the Women’s Soccer World Cup. 
 

LATEST NEWS