TSX ends significantly lower as shares fall on hobbyist pay concerns

(RTTNews) – The Canadian market closed sharply lower on Friday, hurt by rising bond yields and fading optimism over unusual rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, after data confirmed a stronger-than-expected US non-farm payrolls boom.

Canadian employment data was also stronger than expected, reducing the chances of any vital monetary easing from the Bank of Canada.

Statistics Canada data confirmed that employment in Canada increased by 91,000 in December 2024, the best result since January 2023, after a 51,000 rise in the previous month.

In the interim period, Canada’s unemployment rate fell to 6.7% in December from 6.8% a month earlier.

U.S. nonfarm payrolls rose by 256,000 in December, after a downwardly revised 212,000 jump in November, Labor Department data confirmed. The U.S. jobless rate lowered the overall formulation to 4.1% in December from 4.2% in November. It was once expected that the affair would progress unabated.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite, which had fallen to 24,693.75 in early trade, was down 305.63 parts, or 1.22%, at 24,767.73. The index lost about 1.1% for the week.

Healthcare, financial, real estate, communications and expertise stocks fell sharply. Inventory loads from the materials, utilities and consumer staples sectors also finished markedly lower.

Energy stocks had a good time when oil costs rose sharply after the US imposed sweeping sanctions against Russia, targeting most of the core oil companies and top management.

Rogers Communications (RCI.B.TO), Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), Cameco Corporation (CCO.TO), Colliers World (CIGI.TO), TC Energy Corporation (TRP.TO), Stella-Jones (SJ.TO ) ), goeasy (GSY.TO), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO), Wheaton Precious Metals (WPM.TO) and Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) misplaced 2 to 4%.

Thomson Reuters ( TRI.TO ), Dollarama Inc ( DOL.TO ), Canadian National Railway ( CNR.TO ), Descartes Systems Personnel ( DSG.TO ) and Constellation Tool ( CSU.TO ) also closed notably lower.

Aritzia Inc ( ATZ.TO ) was fairly up about 20% on flat results. The company reported a 57.5% jump in adjusted acquisition earnings to $83.0 million on a year-over-year basis in the third quarter.

Maple Leaf Foods (MFI.TO), Charisma Minerals (ORA.TO), Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC.TO), Gildan Activewear (GIL.TO), Lundin Gold (LUG.TO), Suncor Energy (SU.TO), Hut 8 Corp (HUT.TO) and Imperial Oil (IMO.TO) also posted strong positives.

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