Equities in Canada’s largest centre hit a three-month high on Friday, helped by tentative signs of a rebound in domestic employment rate and energy stocks that gained on a jump in oil prices.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index screamed higher 318.77 points, or 2.1%, to reach noon EDT on Friday at 15,846.64
The Canadian dollar jumped 0.49 cents at 74.60 cents U.S.
The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were oilfield services and equipment provider Shawcor, which jumped $1.10, or 52.6%, to $3.19, and oil producer Baytex Energy, which rose 12 cents, or 17.9%, to 79 cents.
NovaGold Resources fell 65 cents, or 5.2%, to $11.82, and the second biggest decliner was Pan American Silver, down $2.72, or 7.3%, to $34.46.
The most heavily traded shares by volume were Suncor
Energy, up $2.12, or 8.2% to $28.08, Air Canada, up $1.90, or 9.8%, to $21.32, and Baytex.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported, employment rose by 290,000 (or 1.8%) in May, while the number of people who worked less than half their usual hours dropped by 292,000 (8.6%).
The unemployment rate was 13.7% in May, the highest rate recorded since comparable data became available in 1976.
Elsewhere, the IVEY Purchasing Managers Index for May sprang back up again in May to 39.1 from April's 22.8, but still considerably below the 55.9 reading in May 2019.
Moreover, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp said on Thursday it would tighten rules for offering mortgage insurance from July 1, after forecasting declines of between 9% and 18% in home prices over the next 12 months.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange tumbled 14.47 points, or 2.6%, midday to 547.94.
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups retained their gains by lunch hour, with energy rumbling 7.7%, real-estate growing 4.2%, and financials, up 3.5%.
The two laggards were gold, down 5.4%, and materials, off 2.8%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rallied on Friday after a historic and surprising gain in U.S. jobs raised hope the economy is starting to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
The Dow Jones Industrials vaulted 990.67 points, or 3.8%, to move into noon hour EDT at 27,272.49.
The S&P 500 hiked 93.29 points, or 3%, to 3,205.64.
The NASDAQ hiked 208.33 points, or 2.2%, to 9,824.15.
Friday’s rally put the S&P 500 down just 0.7% for 2020. At one point this year, the broader market index was down 30.3%. The Dow was only down 4.3% year to date after being down as much as 34.6% in 2020. The NASDAQ is now up more than 9% this year.
The Dow was up 6.9% week to date. The S&P 500 had gained 4.9% and the NASDAQ was up 1.9%.
Shares of airlines jumped, adding to their big gains this week, as the industry added more summer flights. American Airlines jumped 28.6%. United Airlines shares surged 21.3%.
Cruise-line operators such as Norwegian Cruise Line and Carnival both advanced more than 17% while Royal Caribbean gained 13.2%.
MGM Resorts jumped 8.2% while Kohl’s and Nordstrom advanced more than 12% each. Mall operator Simon Property gained 14.1%.
Shares of banks, which have been decimated during the pandemic as lending activity and margins dried up, soared as the jobs report suggested a quick bounce back for the economy. JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Bank of America all rose at least 5%.
Those gains came largely at the expense of stocks that benefited from people staying at home in the early stages of the coronavrius pandemic. Netflix fell 0.8% and Zoom Video lost 3.5%. Amazon slid 0.2%.
The U.S. Labor Department said employers added a shocking 2.5 million jobs last month — the largest gain on record — while the unemployment rate slid to 13.3%.
Economists polled by Dow Jones expected a drop of more than eight million jobs and the unemployment rate to nearly reach 20%, which would have been the highest since the 1930s.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury swooned, raising yields to 0.93% from Thursday’s 0.82%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gushed $1.77 to $39.18 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dulled $46.40 to $1,681.00 U.S. an ounce.
