On Friday, the Canadian market concluded on a strong note due to diminishing worries about Federal interest rates following the revelation of declining employment growth in the U.S.
Utilities, technology, communications, and real estate stocks were amongst the primary winners. Numerous stocks from the materials, healthcare, industrial, and financial sectors also ended considerably higher. Energy and consumer section stocks, however, concluded the day with mixed results.
The standard S&P/TSX Composite Index, having ascended to 21,983.45, finished the session with a gain of 124.19 points or 0.57% at 21,947.41. Despite this, the index indicated a negligible weekly loss.
Data from Canada's Economy highlighted a reading of 49.3 in S&P's Global Canada Services PMI for April, slightly up from March's 46.4. This marks the highest level since June, although it indicates ongoing contraction.
A 2 to 3.5% gain was observed in Shopify Inc, Colliers International, Constellation Software, and Restaurant Brands International. Meanwhile, the Royal Bank of Canada, Franco-Nevada Corporation, CGI Inc, TFI International, Canadian National Railway, Fairfax Financial Holdings, and Thomson Reuters advanced by 1-2%.
TC Energy Corp experienced a rise of over 3%, reporting a first-quarter net income of $1.2 billion or $1.16 per share, compared to $1.3 billion or $1.29 per share in the same period for 2023.
A surge of 4.7% was reported by TransAlta Corporation, boasting net earnings of $222 million for the first quarter of 2024, in comparison to $294 million for the corresponding period in 2023.
A substantial drop of 14.8% was reported by Open Text Corporation, adding to a previous session's decline of more than 18%.
Stella-Jones Inc and Toronto-Dominion Bank dropped by more than 9% and nearly 6% respectively, while Magna International, Parklans Corporation, Russel Metals, Altus Group, Morguard Corporation, Tecsys Inc, and GFL Environmental fell between 2-3.5%.
According to the Labor Department, non-farm payroll employment rose by 175,000 jobs in April after a revised upward surge of 315,000 jobs in March. Economists had forecasted a leap of 243,000 jobs relative to the increase of 303,000 jobs initially reported for the previous month.
The report also indicated an increase in the unemployment rate from 3.8% in March to 3.9% in April, contrary to expectations of stagnation. An annual wage growth of 4% was reported for April, down from 4.1% in March, meeting economists' predictions of a slight dip.