North American stocks ended mixed on Friday, with U.S. stocks posting mild losses after a report showed worse-than-expected job losses in July.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 10,653.56, down 21.42 points, or 0.2 per cent. The broader S&P 500 closed at 1121.64, down 4.17 points, or 0.4 per cent. In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index closed at 11,799.97, up 25.20 points, or 0.2 per cent.
The day began on a sour note after the U.S. Labor Department reported that payrolls shrank by 131,000 jobs in July, about double the job losses that economists had been expecting. Similarly, Statistics Canada reported that Canadian employers shed a net 9,300 jobs last month, against expectations for modest job gains.
The disappointments, which underscore concerns that the economic recovery is stumbling, hit stocks hardest in midday activity, when the Dow was down about 160 points. Even with the recovery towards the end of the day, many stocks with a heavy exposure to the global economy were still left with the biggest losses.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. fell 2 per cent, International Business Machines Corp. fell 1.3 per cent and Exxon Mobil Corp. fell 1.2 per cent. The price of crude oil fell to $80.70 (U.S.) a barrel, down $1.31.
Meanwhile, defensive stocks held up reasonably well. Kraft Foods Inc. rose 2.4 per cent, helped by strong quarterly results. McDonald's Corp. rose 1.8 per cent and Coca-Cola Co. rose 0.7 per cent.
In Canada, gold producers helped keep the benchmark index in positive territory, with Barrick Gold Corp. up 2.8 per cent after the price of gold rebounded above $1200 an ounce. As well, Magna International Inc. rose 7.5 per cent after the auto parts manufacturer reported better than expected quarterly results.
Research In Motion Ltd., coming off a string of down days, rose 3.5 per cent on reports that the BlackBerry maker is in talks with Saudi Arabia to keep its services functioning, despite a security-related showdown with the country and others in the region.