Canada's main stock index fell for a third straight day as miners weighed on commodity-heavy index, while weak U.S. jobless claims data fanned fears of a potential recession.
The TSX eased back 18.1 points, to break for lunch at 20,141.45.
The Canadian dollar dipped 0.16 cents to 74.16 cents U.S.
Among major movers, North West Co rose $2.09, or 5.6%, to $39.56, as multiple brokerages raised their price targets on the retailer after its fourth-quarter profit beat.
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 2.54 points to 620.24.
The 12 TSX subgroups were even in terms of gainers and losers, as information technology waned 0.7%, while materials and energy retreated 0.4% each.
The half-dozen gainers were led by utilities, up 0.9%, health-care, better by 0.8%, and consumer staples, ahead 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks dipped Thursday as signs of a potentially weakening labour market fueled fears of an economic downturn on the horizon.
The Dow Jones Industrials remained in the red 48.61 points to 33,434.11.
The S&P 500 pulled out of negative country 5.03 points to 4,095.41.
The NASDAQ recovered 48.38 points to 12,045.24.
JPMorgan lowered its rating on Comerica shares to neutral from overweight ahead of its first-quarter earnings announcement on April 20.
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 3.29% from Wednesday 3.31%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices grabbed seven cents to $80.68 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices declined nine dollars to $2,026.60 U.S. an ounce.
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