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Investing.com - Canada’s main stock exchange ended higher on Friday, with investors assessing a bevy of major U.S. tech earnings.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 81 points or 0.26% at 30,260.74
On Thursday, index jumped by 0.1% to end at 30,178.98, as markets digested a Bank of Canada interest rate reduction. The average is now track for a monthly increase of 0.5%, which would mark six straight positive months for the first time since 2021.
Traders were keeping tabs on a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Chinese President Xi Jinping, which aimed to reset their trade relationship after years of strained ties during a time when the United States is pursuing a policy of aggressive tariff increases.
U.S. stocks gain
U.S. stocks rose, lead by the tech sector as investors cheered strong after-hours results from Apple and Amazon.
the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 75 points, or 0.2%, the S&P 500 gained 0.4%, and the NASDAQ Composite 0.8%.
The main averages on Wall Street fell in the prior session, pulled down by a decline in shares of Facebook-owner Meta Platforms and software giant Microsoft.
However, October has been a strong month on Wall Street, with the broad-based S&P 500 climbing 2% over the month. The NASDAQ Composite has gained over 4% and the 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 2.4% month to date.
The Dow is on pace for its sixth positive month in a row for the first time since 2018.
Amazon, Apple results boost sentiment
However, those concerns over the spending by the tech sector were eased, to a certain extent, by healthy results from two of Wall Street’s biggest names, reviving the week’s earlier optimism.
Apple stock gained premarket after the iPhone maker issued an upbeat outlook, saying it now expects total revenue to rise by 10% to 12% during the holiday quarter. Underpinning these forecasts were expectations that customers would largely opt to upgrade to Apple’s latest version of its flagship device, the iPhone 17.
Speaking to CNBC, CEO Tim Cook said the iPhone 17 would lead to the best December quarter "in the history of the company."
Amazon shares also surged after the e-commerce giant posted quarterly earnings that topped estimates, buoyed by a rebound in retail margins and solid growth at its cloud arm, Amazon Web Services.
Despite being viewed by some observers as a relative laggard in the AI arms race, top-line growth at its Amazon Web Services cloud division -- which has become largely tied to its ambitions in the nascent technology -- came in at 20%, the fastest increase since 2022.
Elsewhere, Netflix will be in the spotlight after the steaming giant announced a 10-for-1 stock split.
Fed’s cautious tone, Trump-Xi talks assessed
The weaker tone on Wall Street at the end of the week selloff was exacerbated by the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting.
While the Fed cut rates by 25 basis points this week, Chair Jerome Powell signaled that another cut in December was “not a foregone conclusion,” tempering hopes for aggressive stimulus.
Elsewhere, Trump had an "amazing, outstanding" meeting with China’s Xi on Thursday, but offered little clear insight into how Washington and Beijing will temper their trade ties.
The president said he saw a trade deal with China as "pretty soon," and that there were few stumbling blocks between the two. He did not specify when the deal would be signed, but said that he would visit China in April.
Crude rises
Oil prices rose on Friday, yet were flirting with a third consecutive losing month as a stronger dollar and likely rising supply from major producers weighed.
Brent futures added 1.0% to $65.01 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 1.1% to $61.25 a barrel.
Both Brent and WTI are edging towards a monthly decline. Rising supply is expected to exceed demand growth this year, with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and major non-OPEC producers ramping up output to gain market share.
More supply will also cushion the impact of Western sanctions disrupting Russian oil exports to its top buyers China and India.
Gold choppy but remains on pace for third monthly gain
Gold prices oscillated around the flatline, as the Federal Reserve’s cautious tone on future interest rate cuts and signs of easing U.S.-China trade tensions dented demand for the safe-haven metal.
At 09:07 ET, spot gold was broadly flat at $4,025.51 an ounce, and U.S. gold futures added 0.5% to $4,036.90 an ounce.
Bullion jumped over 2% in the previous session, and are on track for a second straight monthly gain.