TSX Flat at Open

Canada's main stock index opened slightly higher on Friday as mining stocks added support, but losses in industrials shares limited gains.The TSX index dipped 0.04 points to start Friday at 25,434.04.The Canadian dollar gained 0.20 cents at 69.75 cents U.S. U.S. allies Canada and the European Union, threatening them again with new tariffs, while expressing dissatisfaction about their trade surpluses with the United States.Earlier this week, Trump said he was thinking about imposing 25% duties on imports from Canada and Mexico on Feb. 1.TD Bank said on Thursday that Chief Global Anti-Money Laundering Officer Herbert Mazariegos is stepping down immediately, as the bank takes remediation actions after it was fined by U.S. regulators for compliance failures. TD shares removed 13 cents to $82.10On the economic agenda, Statistics Canada’s new housing price index declined 0.1% on a month-over-month basis in December. Prices were down in seven of the 27 census metropolitan areas (CMAs) surveyed, while prices were unchanged in 13 CMAs and up in the remaining seven.ON BAYSTREET The TSX Venture Exchange regained 3.47 points to 620.41. Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher soon after the open, with gold up 1.1%, information technology ahead 0.8%, and materials better by 0.6%. The five laggards were weighed most by energy stocks, off 1.1%, financials and consumer staples each lost 0.1%. ON WALLSTREET The S&P 500 flirted with new records on Friday as optimism around the start of President Donald Trump’s term continued.The Dow Jones Industrials waned 106.77 points to begin Friday at 44,458.30. The much-broader index 4.7 points to 6,114.19. The NASDAQ Composite lost 21.53 points to 20,032.15. Novo Nordisk rallied more than 7% following positive early-stage results for a weight-loss drug. Texas Instruments, on the other hand, slid more than 4% on weak earnings guidance.Excitement toward Trump’s pro-business policies pushed risk assets higher this week with investors focused on his inauguration. Traders were also relieved that there have only been threats on the tariff front from Trump — instead of formal action — during his first few days in the White House.All three major averages are on track to post their second positive week, signaling the bull market is back in full force after December’s pullback. All three indexes have added more than 2% week to date, a second straight week with gains of that size.Friday’s action comes after Trump said on Thursday that he would “demand that interest rates drop immediately” when addressing world leaders in Davos, Switzerland. The president also said he would ask Saudi Arabia and other OPEC nations to lower the price of oil.Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained ground, lowering yields to 4.63% from Thursday’s 4.65%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.Oil prices dropped 29 cents to $74.33 U.S. a barrel. Prices for gold restrengthened $25.80 an ounce to $2,790.80 U.S.