Canadian Stocks End Roughly Flat As Investors Assess Jobs Data

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks closed roughly flat on Friday as traders dissected employment data while the possibility of a resumption in Canada-U.S. trade talks helped the index regain momentum.

After opening just below yesterday's close, the benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index gave ground initially but rebounded towards the end of the session to settle at 29,912.19, up by 43.60 points (or 0.15%).

Eight of the 11 sectors posted gains today, with the materials sector leading the pack.

Data released by Statistics Canada today revealed that the unemployment rate in Canada fell to 6.9% in October from the four-year high of 7.1% in September.

The number of unemployed individuals fell by 49,200 to 1,557,300. Particularly, the youth unemployment rate fell by 0.6% to 14.1% for its first decline since February.

Ahead of market estimates, for the month of October, Canadian employment rose by 66,600, or 0.3%.

For the same month, while full-time employment decreased by 18.50 thousand, part-time employment increased by 85.10 thousand.

Canada has been squeezed by the 35% tariffs on its imports to the U.S., a major marketplace for Canada, since August 1.

Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump announced an additional 10% tariff even while high-level officials from both nations were negotiating on a trade deal. Trump also suspended all trade talks between the two nations.

Today, while addressing a business audience in Toronto, Prime Minister Mark Carney stated that trade negotiations with the U.S. will restart at some point without providing further details about when and where.

The Bank of Canada has estimated that the trade dispute with the U.S. would push economic growth down by 1.5% by the end of 2026, reducing the Gross Domestic Product by roughly $40 billion.

Expectations of a lowering of the interest rates by the Bank of Canada are now tanking after the jobs report.

On October 29, the central bank cut rates for the second consecutive time, bringing the overnight rate to 2.25 per cent.

On Tuesday, the Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney released the federal budget.

The budget includes $141 billion dollars in new spending, offset by an estimated $51.2 billion in savings, amounting to a total net new spend of $89.7 billion dollars.

The budget included plans to explore means to save C$60 billion ($42.5 billion) over the next five years including limiting the size of the public service by about 40,000 people.

However, it also commits to spend $280 billion over five years on capital investments, and as a result, the federal deficit is projected to be about $78.3 billion dollars for 2025-2026.

Major sectors that gained in today's trading were Materials (1.42%), Utilities (0.94%), Communication Services (0.68%), Energy (0.42%), and Industrials (0.36%).

Among the individual stocks, Perpetua Resources Corp (6.22%), Discovery Silver Corp (5.12%), Iamgold Corp (4.83%), OceanaGold Corp (4.63%), and Algonquin Power and Utilities Corp (7.79%) were the prominent gainers.

Major sectors that lost in today's trading were IT (2.61%), Real Estate (0.71%), and Consumer Staples (0.14%).

Among the individual stocks, Celestica Inc Sv (6.18%), Quarterhill Inc (4.85%), Open Text Corp (4.55%), Altus Group Ltd (12.03%), and Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc (1.78%) were the notable losers.

Curaleaf Holdings Inc (8.14%), and Sprott Inc (6.44%) were among the prime market-moving stocks today.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.