TORONTO - Canada’s main stock index closed higher Friday, though not as much as U.S. markets which got a boost from a positive jobs report.Â
The April non-farm payroll data came in better than expected, helping ease fears over the impact of tariffs on the U.S. economy, said Pierre-Benoit Gauthier, vice-president of investment strategy at IG Wealth Management.
“What’s notable is that the hard data, the real economy is holding up.”Â
Survey data has been showing weakened hiring and spending intentions, but so far that hasn’t quite happened.
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“People may say on the surveys that they feel worried, that they feel the economy is going wrong and so on, but they are still spending and they are not firing people.”
The jobs data also boosted the U.S. 10-year treasury yield as traders paired back their bets on rate cuts this year, but that didn’t hurt stock performance, said Gauthier.
“Weirdly the market is happy with the job reports, is happy with the economy, and then looking at the 10-year and saying, yeah, if we don’t need cuts let’s not have them.”
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 564.47 points at 41,317.43. The S&P 500 index was up 82.53 points at 5,686.67, while the Nasdaq composite was up 266.99 points at 17,977.73.
The S&P/TSX composite index meanwhile ended up 235.96 points at 25,031.51.
It was still up on the day, but less than most global markets.
“You could say that even Canada is quite underperforming today because it’s the weakest of all markets, weaker than Europe, weaker than Germany, U.K., U.S., name it. So Canada is not a big winner here.”
Price pressure on crude is partially to blame, as OPEC held discussions on raising production in June. The talks helped push the June crude oil contract down 95 cents US at US$58.29 per barrel.
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Energy stocks still marked some gains on the TSX, while financials, industrials and tech performed better. Telecoms and utility stock indexes slid.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.46 cents US compared with 72.28 cents US on Thursday.
The June natural gas contract was up 15 cents US at US$3.63 per mmBTU.
The June gold contract was up US$21.10 at US$3,243.30 an ounce and the July copper contract was up four cents US at US$4.67 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 2, 2025.
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