Equities in Canada’s largest market opened lower on Thursday after data showed Canada added more jobs than expected in March and jobless rate remained near a record low, while falling shares of oil producers and miners added to the declines.
The TSX eased back 10.21 points, to open the week’s last session at 20,149.34.
The Canadian dollar faded 0.08 cents to 74.25 cents U.S.
In company news, RBC Capital Markets upgraded Canadian National Railway to "outperform" from "sector perform." CN shares gained $1.21 to $158.84.
Lundin Gold reported an all-time high quarterly gold production in its first quarter update. Lundin Gold shares added 70 cents, or 4.3%, to $17.10.
According to statistics Canada, the economy created 35,000 jobs in March, and the unemployment rate held steady at 5.0%, and the unemployment rate held steady at 5.0%.
Also, the IVEY PMI for March sprang to 58.2 in March, from February's 51.6, and much lower than the 63.0 level in March 2022.
Friday is, of course, Good Friday, and the markets will be closed.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dipped 2.92 points to 619.86.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher Thursday, with health-care climbing 0.9%, consumer staples up 0.6%, and communications ahead 0.4%.
The five laggards were weighed by gold and information technology, each slumping 0.8%, and materials, off 0.6%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks dipped Thursday as signs of a potentially weakening labor market fueled fears of an economic downturn on the horizon.
The Dow Jones Industrials dispensed with 139.2 points to 33,343.52.
The S&P 500 fell 14.11 points to 4,076,27.
The NASDAQ faded 46.54 points to 11,950.32.
The latest weekly jobless claims came in higher than expected, adding to recent signals that pointed to slowing job growth. The expansion in private payrolls was well below expectations in March, ADP said earlier this week. Meanwhile, the number of available positions fell below 10 million in February — a first in almost two years. Job cuts have also soared by nearly fivefold so far this year from a year ago.
Over the past several months, investors had cheered signs of economic cooling on the hope that it could push the Federal Reserve to change course on its interest rate hiking campaign. But they are now wondering if the central bank has gone too far in its bid to cool inflation, tightening the economy to the point of a recession.
Thursday will cap off a shortened trading week with the market closed for Good Friday. Investors will still closely monitor March jobs report Friday morning. Nonfarm payrolls has been showing solid growth despite layoffs across tech and financial sectors, but many believe the trend is poised to reverse soon.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury strengthened, lowering yields to 3.28% from Wednesday 3.31%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices descended 28 cents to $80.33 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices declined $11.10 to $2,024,50 U.S. an ounce.
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