Canada's main stock index slipped on Friday, as a strong domestic jobs report fed into global concerns about faster withdrawal of central bank support that has kept investors on edge this week.
The S&P/TSX Composite swooned 111.67 points to wind their way into Friday noon hour at 20.960.53.
The Canadian dollar sprinted 0.41 cents to 78.96 cents U.S.
Tech stocks were pounded the worst, with Docebo tumbling $2.46, or 3.5%, to $67.01, while HUT 8 Mining skidded 30 cents, or 3.4%, to $8.41.
In consumer stocks, Canada Goose Holdings had a hard landing, losng $2.81, or 6.1%, to $43.59, while Linamar weakened $1.67, or 2.1%, to $77.40.
Health-care stocks, primarily pot stocks, did register gains, with Canopy Growth growing 42 cents, or 4%, to $10.84, while Aurora Cannabis obtained 20 cents, or 2.9%, to $7.01.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada said the economy created 55,000 jobs in December, not enough, though, to disturb the unemployment rate in this country from its current perch of 5.9%.
Moreover, Western University’s IVEY Purchasing Managers Index plummeted to 45 in December, down from 61.2 in November, and lower than the 46.7 figure seen in December 2020.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 6.79 points to 904.42.
All but one of the 12 TSX subgroups lost ground by noon, with information technology sinking 2%, consumer discretionary down 1.1%, and real-estate off 0.8%.
Only health-care salvaged some dignity, eking up 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 fell on Friday at the end of a rough week for markets, which have come under pressure because of a spike in rates to begin 2022. Tech shares have led the losses.
The Dow Jones Industrials found some traction midday and gained 81.75 points to 36,318.22.
The S&P 500 index fell 5.07 points to 4,690.98.
The NASDAQ docked 84.09 points at 14,996.78.
The tech-heavy NASDAQ is on track for its worst week since February 2021, down more than 4% in the first five trading days of 2022. The S&P 500 is off by 1.8%, while the Dow is down only slightly as investors rotated into some value stocks amid the rise in rates.
Chipmakers Nvidia and Microchip Technology were among the biggest decliners in the NASDAQ, both down about 3%. Netflix fell about 2% and Twilio lost about 3%.
Software stocks are among the hardest hit shares this week amid the rotation out of tech, with Salesforce, Adobe and Twilio all down about 10% for the week. Nearly all megacap tech stocks were set for a losing week. Netflix has lost 9% for the week, Microsoft has fallen 7% and Alphabet is down about 5%.
Elsewhere, GameStop shares jumped more than 6% following news that the company is venturing into the crypto world with investments in a marketplace for nonfungible tokens and digital currency partnerships to create games and other items.
On Friday the U.S. Labor Department reported the economy added far fewer jobs in December than expected. The non-farm payrolls report showed an increase of 199,000 in December, though economists had expected growth of 422,000, according to Dow Jones.
While the headline number disappointed, there were some things in this jobs report that pointed to an improving economic picture and higher inflation. Average hourly earnings increased by 0.6%, above expectations. And the unemployment rate fell to 3.9%, the lowest level since Feb 2020 and well below the 4.1% expected.
Prices for 10-year Treasurys fell, raising yields to 1.79% from Thursday’s 1.73%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices demurred 41 cents to $79.05 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices acquired $3.30 to $1,792.50 U.S. an ounce.
