Stocks on Bay Street traded in the red Friday -- in the wake of a December employment report that showed a continued weak labor market while a sharp drop in oil prices took a toll on the Canadian dollar.
The S&P/TSX composite index was off 136.40 points to 9,085.18.
Statistics Canada reported Canada's economy lost 34,400 jobs last month as the unemployment rate jumped to 6.6 per cent from 6.3 percent in November -- 71,000 full-time jobs disappearing, offset somewhat by part-time gains.
In other economic news -- Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported that housing starts during December were little changed from the previous month. CMHC said that the seasonally adjusted annual rate of starts camein at just over 177,000, down marginally from 178,000 units in November.
Also -- the value of Canadian building permits tumbled 11.8 percent in November from October to a 21-month low, Statistics Canada said on Friday.
Down south -- the U.S. lost 524,000 jobs in December, right in line with estimates. The figure was considerably better than forecast by a report by ADP Employment Service earlier in the week, which estimated private-sector employment fell by 693,000 in December, suggesting the nonfarm payroll numbers will have declined much more severely than expected.
The unemployment rate, however, was worse than expected, rising to 7.2 percent.
In corporate news -- shares in HudBay Minerals Inc. were higher after it said today it will shut down its Chisel North zinc mine and concentrator in Snow Lake, Man. due to low metals prices and the slumping global economy.
The Canadian dollar, meanwhile, traded 0.71 cents lower at 84.09 cents US.
BAYSTREET
Two of the TSX sub-groups traded higher today -- tech stocks were ahead 2.58 percent and real-estate issues were up 0.78 percent.
On the downside -- mining stocks were off 2.87 percent followed by a 2.55 percent drop in energy issues and a 2.45 percent slide in industrial stocks.
Gold futures gained, with the front-month contract closing up 50 cents to $855 US an ounce. The precious metal finished off 2.8 percent for the week.
Meanwhile, the TSX Venture Exchange was up 9.43 points to 908.90 and the NASDAQ Canada was ahead 5.31 points at 488.86.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks on Friday fell for a third straight session to finish sharply lower for the week, after the government's much-awaited layoff tally for December confirmed last year as the worst for labor since World War II ended in 1945.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 143.28 points, or 1.6 percent, to 8599.18, and the S&P 500 was off by 19.38 points, or 2.1 percent, at 890.35. The Nasdaq sank 45.42 points, or 2.8 percent, to 1571.59.
On the corporate front -- the private-equity arm of collapsed investment bank Lehman Brothers has reached an agreement to spin out into an independent firm, taking in a new investment from luxury-goods billionaire Johann Rupert, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Battered homebuilder KB Home reported plunging revenue, but its worse-than-expected losses were a dramatic improvement from its year-earlier performance. KB Home said total revenue for the fourth-quarter were $919 million, down from more than $2 billion in the year-ago quarter.
Meanwhile, according to the Journal, Yahoo! is wrapping up its search for a CEO. The Journal reports that final candidates include Carol Bartz, former CEO of Autodesk.
Shares of Palm Inc. rallied more than 34 percent to mark a second day of strong gains after the company introduced its new touch-screen smartphone.
CVS Caremark Corp. shares dropped 12.4 percent after the drug-store chain projected a 2009 profit below expectations.
Treasury prices fell, raising the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 2.49 percent from 2.44 percent Thursday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions. Yields on the 2-year, 10-year and 30-year Treasurys all hit record lows last month.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude-oil futures fell 87 cents to end at $40.83 US a barrel.
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