TSX Modestly Higher As Investors Digest Canadian, U.S. Jobs Data

The Canadian market is modestly higher Friday morning with investors digesting Canadian and U.S. jobs data and assessing the likely interest rate moves by the Bank of Canada and the Federal Reserve.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which climbed to 21,892.06 earlier, is up 49.74 points or 0.23% at 21,844.30.

Data from Statistics Canada showed employment in Canada rose by 40,700 in February, after seeing an addition of 37,300 jobs in January. The data showed the unemployment rate in Canada rose to 5.8% in February, up from 5.7% in January.

Average hourly earnings for permanent employees in Canada increased by 4.9% yoy to reach $35.51 in February, slowing from 5.3% increase in January.

A separate data from Statistics Canada showed Canadian industries operated at 78.7% of their production capacity in the fourth quarter of 2023, lower than the downwardly revised 78.8% in the prior period.

The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment surged by 275,000 jobs in February, while economists had expected employment to jump by 200,000 jobs.

However, the report also said job growth in December and January was downwardly revised to 290,000 and 229,000 jobs, respectively, reflecting a net downward revision of 167,000 jobs.

The unemployment rate rose to 3.9% in February from 3.7% in January. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to come in unchanged.

The downward revisions and the unexpected increase in the unemployment rate combined with a slowdown in the annual rate of wage growth has added to optimism the Federal Reserve will begin lowering interest rates in June.

Healthcare and technology stocks are among the prominent gainers. Communications shares are weak, while shares from the rest of the sectors are turning in a mixed performance.

Healthcare stock Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO) is climbing 5.5%, and Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) is up nearly 1%.

In the technology sector, Bitfarms (BITF.TO) is soaring nearly 11%. Hut 8 Corp (HUT.TO), Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO),…