Stocks Drag at Open

Stocks in Toronto opened lower on Friday, with energy and material stocks leading declines, even though data showed domestic retail sales remained unexpectedly strong in June.

The TSX moved lower 126.52 points to open Friday at 20,138.85.

The Canadian dollar moved lower 0.21 cents to 77.02 cents U.S.

A state of Michigan lawsuit that aims to force Enbridge to stop operating the Line 5 oil pipeline underneath the Straits of Mackinac in the Great Lakes will be heard in federal court, a judge ruled on Thursday.

Shares in Enbridge lost 20 cents to $55.84.

Stifel FirstEnergy raised the target price on Crew Energy to $10.00 from $8.00. Crew grabbed a penny to $6.33.

CIBC raised the target price on Karora Resources to $4.5 from $4.25. Karora shares doffed 18 cents, or 5.3%, to $3.22.

On the economic front, Statistics Canada said retail sales increased 1.1% to $63.1 billion in June, the sixth consecutive increase.

Sales were up in eight of 11 subsectors and were led by higher sales at gasoline stations and motor vehicle and parts dealers.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange faltered 7.16 points, or 1.1%, to 655.45.

All but one of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower, as health-care shed 1.8%, while materials and gold were off 1.2% each.

Only utilities bucked the trend, eking up 0.2%.

ON WALLSTREET

Read:

• Mega Grocery Store Chains Listening to Customers’ Demands for Nutritious, Clean-Label Foods

• Innovative Food Stocks Responding to Conflict-, and Drought-Driven Food Supply Shocks

• Crypto Miners Finding Success While Shifting Towards Environmentally Sustainable Operations

• New Approaches Towards Immunotherapy Give Hope in Fight Against Solid Tumors

• As a Major Social Media Shuffle Looms, Uptake and Value of Dogecoin (DOGE) Surges

Stocks fell on Friday, with the S&P 500 on track to break its four-week win streak as Wall Street’s summer rally lost its steam.

The Dow Jones Industrials jettisoned 275.27 points to 33,723.77.

The S&P 500 dropped 46.85 points, or 1.1%, to 4,236.89.

The NASDAQ Composite stumbled 217.67 points, or 1.7%, to 12,747.67.

For the week, the S&P 500 was last down 0.82%, while the Dow was up 0.14%. The tech-heavy NASDAQ is currently down more than 2% for the week.

In other news, Bed Bath & Beyond shares cratered after Ryan Cohen exited his position in the retailer.

About $2 trillion worth of options contracts are set to expire on Friday.

Treasury prices leaped, lowering yields to 2.97% from Thursday’s 2.88%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite direction.

Oil prices crept lower 30 cents to $90.20 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices fell $6.80 to $1,764.40 U.S. an ounce.

Stocks Tumble as S&P Could Break Weeks-Long Streak