Canada's commodity-heavy stock index rose on Friday as materials and energy stocks rallied, while investors also tracked the rise in Wall Street indexes after a moderation in U.S. jobs growth in December.
The TSX recovered 73.83 points to open Friday at 19,580.67.
The Canadian dollar poked up 0.11 cents at 73.83 cents U.S.
In company news, a U.S. judge said she will rule in a few months if former President Donald Trump erred in 2021 when he approved Lithium Americas Corp's Thacker Pass lithium mining project in northern Nevada.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported employment rose by 104,000 (+0.5%) in December, and the unemployment rate declined 0.1 percentage points to 5.0%, just above the record low of 4.9% reached in June and July.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange regained 2.4 points to 573.52.
All but three of the 12 subgroups moved positive in the first hour, with energy up 1.4%, materials better by 0.7%, and consumer discretionary stocks up 0.6%.
The three laggards were information technology, down 1.5%, health-care, off 1.1%, and real-estate, sliding 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks rose Friday after the December jobs report showed that employment was only slightly stronger and wage gains were less than expected, signaling progress amid the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes to tame inflation.
The Dow Jones Industrials popped 379.7 points, or 1.2%, to begin Friday at 33,309.78.
The S&P 500 advanced 43.44 points, or 1.1%, at 3,851.54.
The NASDAQ Composite Index leaped 89.23 points to 10,394.47, but was weighed down by Tesla shares, which fell more than 4% after the company lowered prices on some vehicles in China.
With Friday’s gains, stocks may tip into positive territory on the week. The Dow is currently up 0.5% in the first week of the year and the S&P 500 is up 0.3%. The Nasdaq is still down on the week, set to fall 0.7%.
The December non-farm payrolls report showed that the U.S. economy added 223,000 jobs last month, slightly higher than the expected 200,000 jobs economists polled by the Dow Jones expected. In addition, wages grew slower than anticipated, increasing 0.3% on the month where economists expected 0.4%.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury climbed sharply, lowering yields to 3.62% from Thursday’s 3.73%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained $1.22 to $74.89 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices brightened $24.40 to $1,865 U.S. an ounce.
