The Toronto Stock Exchange declined early Friday, with some promising signs emerging from the U.S. economy offset by a disappointing outlook for Canada's biggest technology company.
In the opening minutes of trading, the S&P/TSX composite index was down 4.77 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 14,024.60.
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. was expected to weigh on the TSX Friday after providing earnings guidance for its first fiscal quarter that was well short of what analysts were expecting and sent the stock lower in pre-market trade.
Elsewhere in the corporate sector, things weren't looking so bad for companies such as U.S. technology giant Oracle Corp., which impressed analysts with profits earned and expected.
For the U.S. economy overall, the Commerce Department revised up last year's fourth-quarter GDP growth figure to an annualized rate of 3.1 per cent from 2.8 per cent, which was estimated last month.
Data also showed that corporate profits in the U.S. were up 3.3 per cent in the last quarter. For 2010 overall, profits surged 20.4 per cent, the biggest jump in six years.
On the U.S. stock market, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 30.2 points, or 0.25 per cent, to 12,200.76 in early trading Friday. The Nasdaq composite index was up 7.81 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 2,744.23.
On the commodities market, crude oil was down 27 cents U.S. to $105.33 U.S. a barrel in New York. Gold was off $1.40 U.S. to $1,435 U.S. an ounce.
The Canadian dollar was up two basis points to $1.0256 U.S..
The United Kingdom's FTSE index gained 2.51 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 5,883.38. France's CAC was down 1.79 points, or 0.05 per cent, to 3,967.05. In Germany, the DAX declined 2.84 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 6,930.74.
Asian stocks were up. Strength was seen among construction stocks amid expectations of a huge rebuilding effort in the coming months as Japan deals with the devastating earthquake from two weeks ago.
Japan's Nikkei index rose 101.12 points, or 1.07 per cent, to 9,536.13. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 243.39 points, or 1.06 per cent, to 23,158.67. Mainland China's Shanghai composite gained 31.11 points, or 1.06 per cent, to 2,977.81.
On Thursday, the TSX was down 57.81 points, or 0.41 per cent to 14,029.37. The Dow Jones rose 84.54 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 12,170.56, and the Nasdaq was up 38.12, or 1.41 per cent, to 2,736.42.
