Stock Gains Tail off
Canada's main stock index was headed for a record high on Friday, as a better-than-expected U.S. jobs report and signs of easing trade tensions between Washington and China fueled investor optimism.
The TSX Composite Index came off its highs of the morning to add 69.8 points, and approach noon EDT Friday at 26,412.07.
The Canadian dollar lost 0.10 cents to 73.07 cents U.S.
This week, U.S. President Donald Trump doubled tariffs on imports on steel and aluminum; Canada is the largest seller of the metals to the U.S.
Federal Industry Minister Melanie Joly said on Thursday that Prime Minister Mark Carney and Trump are in direct communication as part of Ottawa's bid to persuade Washington to lift tariffs.
Meanwhile, a highly-anticipated phone call between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday, which Trump said led to "a very positive conclusion," offered hope the trade war between the world's two largest economies might start to de-escalate.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported Friday the economy created a mere 8,000 jobs last month, raising the unemployment rate 0.1% percentage points to 7%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gave back 1.3 points to 716.97.
The 12 TSX subgroups were evenly split, with energy higher 1.8%, information technology, up 1.7%, and financials, ahead 0.5%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by gold, shedding 2.4%, materials, off 1.6%, and consumer staples, trailing 0.8%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks jumped Friday after the latest non-farm payrolls data came in better than expected, easing concern the economy faces an imminent slowdown.
The Dow Jones Industrials cooked 392.66 points to 42,712.40.
The S&P index recovered 62.28 points, or 1.1%, to 6,001.58, touching the 6,000 level for the first time since February.
The NASDAQ Composite popped 261.90 points, or 1.3%, to 19,550.25.
The broad market index, along with the other two major indexes, are also on pace for meaningful gains for the week. The S&P and Dow are each up more than 1% week to date, while the NASDAQ is up more than 2%.
The market’s move higher was supported by a more than 6% gain in Tesla. Shares of the electric vehicle maker weighed on the market Thursday, tumbling 14%, as CEO Elon Musk sparred with President Donald Trump on social media. Other major tech-related names such as Nvidia, Meta Platforms and Apple also traded higher on the day.
Those gains came after U.S. payrolls climbed 139,000 in May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, above the Dow Jones forecast of 125,000 for the month but less than the downwardly revised 147,000 in
A series of data released earlier this week signaled a possible economic slowdown, raising questions about the impact of the multi-front tariff negotiations and the next steps for the Federal Reserve, which next meets to set interest rate policy on June 17-18.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury fell, hiking yields to 4.49% from Thursday’s 4.40%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gushed $1.26 to $64.63 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices backpedaled $21.80 to $3,353.30 U.S. an ounce.
