National Bank of Canada (TSE:NA), the nation’s sixth-largest lender, said its operating profit in the fiscal second-quarter rose 6 percent, outlined plans to repurchase shares and raised its quarterly dividend by 5 percent. Taking out one-time items, profit for the three months ended April 30 rose to a record C$369 million, or C$2.08 a share, from C$347 million, or C$1.95 a share, the Montreal-based firm said in a statement on Friday. This beat the C$1.97 average estimate of 8 analysts.

Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSE:TD), Canada’s second-largest lender by assets, said its fiscal second-quarter profit rose 2 percent as trading-related revenue increased and U.S. retail banking net surpassed domestic gains. Net income for the three months ended April 30 rose to C$1.72 billion, or C$1.78 a share, from C$1.69 billion, or C$1.78, a year earlier. 

Stonecap Securities analyst Brad Smith offered his views of the Canadian financial services sector  on Wednesday ahead of the start of the reporting season for the nation's biggest banks later this week, amid an outlook of continued uncertainty. 

Howard Simons of Bianco Research famously illustrated the odds against such an event – postulated as being in the order of 20 trillion to one – as having “a lower probability of occurrence than randomly selecting a [particular] $1 bill out of pile of singles representing the U.S. national debt.”

Gold prices on the Comex continued to slide Friday, with the yellow metal trading down for the seventh consecutive session, the commodity’s most protracted series of losses since early 2009. The most active market, gold for June delivery, dropped as low as $1357.60 per ounce in intraday trading, from an open of $1385.20, shedding almost two per cent.