Daily Wrap-Up: Negative end to the week for TSX

Negative end to the week for TSX... Bell completes Manitoba Telecom deal... Manufacturing gained again in January... Alberta’s $68 for oil may be optimistic say opposition...

Daily Wrap-Up: Negative end to the week for TSX
Steve Randall
Negative end to the week for TSX
There was another negative end to the session for the main TSX Friday as materials, healthcare and energy led the decline of 7 of the 10 main sectors.

Telecoms led the gains on the completion of the Bell acquisition of MTS, while consumer staples and utilities also stayed above water.

Wall Street was also weak except for the Nasdaq; Europe and Asia were mostly higher.

Commodities saw no major moves with gold gaining the most since February.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed down 71.92 (0.46 per cent)
The Dow Jones closed down 19.93 (0.10 per cent)
Oil is trending lower (Brent $51.71, WTI $48.72 at 5pm)
Gold is trending higher (1229.10 at 5pm)
The loonie is valued at U$0.7496

Bell completes Manitoba Telecom deal
Manitoba Telecom Services is now officially part of Bell following the completion of the $3.9 billion deal announced almost a year ago.

It adds more than 700,000 customers to Bell’s existing customer base and will kick start improvement of the infrastructure to give Bell MTS customers better broadband in Manitoba.

MTS customers will not see any price changes for at least 12 months, Bell MTS said Friday.

Manufacturing gained again in January
Canada’s manufactures saw higher sales in January, the third consecutive month of gains.

Statistics Canada reported that manufacturing sales were up 0.6 per cent to $53.8 billion, with non-durables up 2.3 as energy and chemical sectors led the gains; 14 of 21 industries gained overall.

Higher volumes of goods were sold in January, shown by a 0.7 per cent rise in sales in constant dollar terms.

Alberta’s $68 for oil may be optimistic say opposition
Alberta’s provincial budget plans calls for a rise in average oil prices to $68 per barrel by 2020 which some say is unlikely.

Speaking to Global News, Alberta Party leader Greg Clark said the outlook was “just hopeful thinking” and accused the NDP of playing a “game” with the budget.

But CMC Markets Canada’s Colin Cieszynski told Global News that the forecast may be reasonable but that the government will have to be prepared for the chance that its not.

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