Today in the markets
U.S. stocks were mostly up on Friday, pushing the Dow and S&P 500 to five-year highs, following strong results from General Electric, offsetting a slump in shares of Intel Corp.
Canadian stocks were also higher, buoyed by signs of economic growth in China and an analyst upgrade for BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion.
The S&P/TSX Composite rose 50.96 points to 12,725.69, while the TSX Venture Exchange edged up 2.17 points to close at 1,235.32.
Active stocks included Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF, Stock Forum). It was the biggest loser on the S&P 500 as the shares fell more 7.47% to $56.99 as the credit card lender and bank reported earnings that fell short of forecasts.
On the flip side, General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE, Stock Forum) rose 3.5% to $22.04 after the conglomerate issued an upbeat outlook and reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue. Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC, Stock Forum) tumbled 6.3% to $21.25 on lower earnings.
In Canada, Research in Motion Ltd. (TSX: T.RIM, Stock Forum) (NASDAQ: RIMM, Stock Forum) shares were up 7.2% to $15.71 after Jefferies & Co. upgraded the stock to buy from hold and raised its price target to $19.50 from $13 U.S. The move came on expectations RIM will open its corporate BlackBerry email services to iPhone and Android devices.
The gold sector rose with Goldcorp Inc. (TSX: T.G, Stock Forum) (NYSE: GG, Stock Forum) adding 0.19% to $36.83, while Iamgold Corp. (TSX: T.IMG, Stock Forum) (NYSE: IAG, Stock Forum) improved by 1.4% to $10.88.
For news about small stocks that made big moves in Friday’s trading, please read the
Stockhouse Canadian Small and Micro-cap Stock Report