TSX Holds its Own Midday

Equities in Canada’s largest market were up on Friday as broad-based gains were offset by a slide in heavyweight oil stocks, while investors assessed domestic retail sales data that pointed to sluggish consumer demand.The TSX poked ahead 45.16 points, to pull into noon hour EST at 29,951.71.The index has so far lost 375 points, or 1.3%. The Canadian dollar skidded 0.19 cents to 70.77 cents U.S. In corporate news, Dye & Durham has been offered $272 million by Plantro to be taken private, Bloomberg News reported. Dye & Durham was up 50 cents Friday to $3.21. GFL Environmental announced secondary offering by selling shareholders. GFL shares dropped $1.33, or 2%, to $63.84. On the economic scene, Statistics Canada reported its new housing price index slumped 0.4% in October, compared to a loss of 0.2% in the prior-year month, while retail trade decreased 0.7% to $69.8 billion in September. Sales were down in six of nine subsectors, led by decreases at motor vehicle and parts dealers. ON BAYSTREET The TSX Venture Exchange lost 7.74 points to 841.43. The index has lost 44 points, or nearly 5%, on the week. All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups gained midday, with consumer discretionary stocks rocketing 1.4%, while health-care picked up 1.1%, and telecoms advanced 0.8%. The two laggards were energy, down 1.3%, while information technology gave up 1.1%. ON WALLSTREET U.S. equities rebounded Friday after New York Federal Reserve President John Williams suggested the central bank could cut rates again in December.The Dow Jones Industrials index leaped 446.44 points, or 1%, to 46,198.70.The S&P 500 added 48.86 points to 6,587.24The NASDAQ popped 117.22points to 22,105.27.Stocks that could benefit the most from lower rates boosting consumer spending helped lead the market comeback, including Home Depot, Starbucks and McDonald’s. Investors hope easier monetary policy can revive a sluggish economy and justify historically high tech-stock valuations.Even with Friday’s moves, however, the broad market S&P 500 is still down around 2% week to date, as is the 30-stock Dow. The NASDAQ has shed about 3%.The comments by a notable Fed member like Williams broke the equity market out of its artificial intelligence-stock slump and raised traders’ bets that the central bank would in fact cut next month for the third time this year. Fed funds futures traders are currently pricing in a more than 70% chance of a quarter percentage point cut, a spike from the 39.1% likelihood priced in the day beforePrices for the 10-year Treasury skidded, pushing yields up to 4.08% from Thursday’s 4.10%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions. Oil prices moved downward $1.22 to $57.78 U.S. a barrel. Gold prices jumped $11.30 to $4,071.30 U.S. an ounce.