(RTTNews) - Canadian shares are modestly lower around noon on Friday with investors digesting employment data from Canada and the U.S., and assessing the likely move of the Federal Reserve with regard to interest rates.
The unexpected rise in U.S. unemployment rate has raised hopes the Fed will likely start reducing rates in September.
The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 75.11 points or 0.34% at 22,168.91 a little before noon.
Materials shares are up on firm metal prices. Energy stocks are weighed down by weak crude oil prices.
Methanex Corporation (MX.TO), Imperial Oil (IMO.TO), BRP Inc (DOO.TO), Celestica Inc (CLS.TO), Precision Drilling Corp (PD.TO), Bombardier Inc (BBD.A.TO), goeasy (GSY.TO), Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO) and WSP Global (WSP.TO) are down 1 to 3%.
Hut 8 Corp (HUT.TO) is climbing 5.7%. Wheaton Precious Metals (WPM.TO), Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO), Newmont Corporation (NGT.TO), Teck Resources (TECK.A.TO), Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV.TO) and Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) are up 1 to 2.5%.
Data from Statistics Canada showed employment in Canada fell by a marginal 1,400 in June, following a 26,700 increase in the previous month. The unemployment rate rose to 6.4% in June from 6.2% in the earlier month.
The Ivey Business School said that its Purchasing Managers Index in Canada surged to 62.5 in June 2024 from 52 in the previous month, significantly surpassing market forecasts of 53. This marks the eleventh consecutive month of economic growth, the second highest in the current sequence.
In U.S., the Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment shot up by 206,000 jobs in June compared to economist estimates for an increase of about 190,000 jobs. The report also showed the increases in employment in April and May were downwardly revised to 108,000 jobs and 218,000 jobs, respectively, reflecting a net downward revision of 111,000 jobs.
The unemployment rate also rose for the third straight month, inching up to 4.1% in June from 4% in May. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to remain unchanged. With the unexpected uptick, the unemployment rate reached its highest level since hitting a matching rate in November 2021.
