Canadian stocks rebounded from a 1.2% slide on Friday sparked by a disappointing U.S. jobs report, gold producers surged with the metal on speculation the Federal Reserve will keep rates lower for longer.
The S&P/TSX composite index climbed out of the red to gain 97.35 to end the day and the week at 13,339.74, after reaching an October 2013 low on Monday.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.6 cents at 75.96 cents U.S.
Gold stocks rallied as the price of the metal surged as much as 2.4%in New York. Goldcorp Inc. soared 6.3% to $17.11, and Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. jumped 11.8% to $36.60 as all 21 members in the S&P/TSX Gold Index advanced. Teck Resources Ltd. surged 10.7% to $6.74, as copper futures advanced.
Banks led a retreat in financials stocks. Royal Bank of Canada sank 2% to $71.97, as a gauge of the nation’s largest lenders retreated.
National Bank of Canada slumped 5.3% to $40.89, headed for an August 2013 low, after the lender said it will take a $64-million restructuring charge in the fourth quarter and sell about seven million shares to raise $300million.
Canadian equities are among the worst-performing markets in the developed world this year with a 9.4% slide, led by declines among raw-materials and energy producers of at least 23%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 0.33 points to 525.56
All but two of the 13 TSX subgroups were higher at the close, with metals and mining leaping 7.1%, gold 6.9% stronger, and materials better by 5.4%.
The two laggards were financials, down 1.7%, and utilities, slipping 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks closed more than 1% higher Friday, recovering from an initial decline of more than 1.5%, as investors digested higher oil prices and a weaker-than-expected jobs report.
The Dow Jones industrial average recovered from an early morning collapse of nearly 250 points to zoom 200.36 points, or 1.2%, and close at 16,472.37.
Among blue chips, Chevron led advancers and Verizon and JPMorgan Chase were the only decliners. Intel was the greatest gainer on the week, while Apple was the worst performer for the week.
The S&P 500 leaped 27.54 points, or 1.4%, to 1,951.36. Energy rallied 4% to top materials and health care as the greatest advancer in the S&P.
The Dow and S&P 500 both enjoyed their biggest intraday upside reversal since Oct. 4, 2011.
The NASDAQ index rocketed 80.69 points, or 1.7%, to 4,707.77. Apple also recouped losses to close 0.7% higher Friday.
The U.S. economy created 142,000 jobs in September, a number far below the expected 203,000 and could cool expectations that the Federal Reserve will start raising interest rates soon. August and July figures were also revised lower.
Experts are predicting that the first rate hike will come no earlier than March 2016.
Unemployment held at 5.1%, according to the U.S. Labor Department. The participation rate plunged to 62.4%.
Average hourly wages fell by a cent to $25.09 U.S. during the month and were up only 2.2% from the same month in 2014, pointing to marginal inflationary pressures, Reuters said.
Elsewhere, factory orders showed a decline of 1.7% in August, a slightly greater-than-expected decline.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained sharply, hammering yields to 1.96%, compared to Thursday’s 2.04%. Treasury price and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices demurred 58 cents a barrel to $44.16 U.S.
Gold prices hurtled higher $25.59 to $1,139.20 U.S. an ounce.
