Canada\u2019s benchmark index edged higher on Friday, supported by mining stocks while investors drew optimism from signs that the \u2060Middle East \u200bceasefire was holding as well as a resilient U.S. economy after stronger-than-expected jobs data.<\/p>\n
At 10:40 a.m. ET, the Toronto Stock Exchange\u2019s S&P\/TSX composite index was up 0.7 per cent at 34,113.67 points and was on track for a weekly gain \u200bafter two straight weekly losses.<\/p>\n
U.S. and Iranian \u200cforces clashed in the Gulf and the United Arab Emirates came under renewed attack. These dented hopes for a swift diplomatic resolution to the crisis though President Donald Trump said a ceasefire was still holding.<\/p>\n
The heavy-weight mining stocks led gains, up 2.7 per cent, as \u200cgold prices \u200brose after the U.S. \u200cjobs data and optimism over a potential end to the U.S.-Iran conflict helped \u200bease concerns about inflation and elevated interest rates.<\/p>\n
First \u2060Quantum Minerals, Capstone Copper and Wesdome Gold Mines rose 5.3 per cent to \u20606.3 per cent, being among the top gainers on the index.<\/p>\n
\u201cInvestors are cautiously optimistic after signs a \u200bceasefire is holding, but renewed clashes show risks in the Middle East remain elevated, keeping demand for gold firm as prolonged tensions raise the threat of energy-driven inflation,\u201d said Michael Dehal, senior portfolio manager, Dehal Investment Partners at Raymond James.<\/p>\n
The energy index also rose 0.8 per cent, tracking \u2060higher oil prices after renewed fighting near the Strait of Hormuz raised supply concerns, signaling skepticism among some investors.<\/p>\n
On the macroeconomic side, U.S. jobs growth topped expectations in April, while the unemployment rate held at 4.3 per cent, signaling continued labor-market resilience.<\/p>\n
Canada\u2019s unemployment rate, meanwhile, rose to a six-month high of 6.9 per cent in April as \u2060the economy lost a net 17,700 jobs, Statistics \u200bCanada data showed. This flagged a continued weakness in a labor market that \u2060has struggled in the face of U.S. tariffs and trade uncertainty.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn contrast to the U.S. data, Canada \u200clost jobs and the unemployment rate climbed, highlighting the labor-market weakness we\u2019ve been flagging and \u200bit\u2019s simply not as rosy a story in Canada as it is in the U.S.,\u201d Dehal said.<\/p>\n
On the earnings front, Enbridge inched up 0.6 per cent after the pipeline operator reported first-quarter adjusted profit that surpassed analysts\u2019 \u200bexpectations.<\/p>\n
Energy Fuels fell 8.3 per cent even as the rare earth producer\u2019s first-quarter revenue rose.<\/p>\n
U.S. stocks are rising toward records Friday following the latest sign that the nation\u2019s job market is doing better than economists expected.<\/p>\n
The S&P 500 climbed 0.7 per cent and was on track to top its all-time high after a report said U.S. employers added 115,000 more jobs than they cut last month, even though the war with Iran is raising fuel costs and uncertainty for everyone. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 75 points, or 0.2 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.2 per cent higher and heading for its own record.<\/p>\n
While hiring slowed from March\u2019s level, it was nevertheless nearly double what economists expected. And it kept the S&P 500 on track for a sixth straight winning week, which would be its longest such streak since 2024. The U.S. stock market has blasted higher since late March, in part on hopes that the war will not mean a worst-case scenario for the global economy and that the Strait of Hormuz will reopen to allow oil tankers to deliver crude from the Persian Gulf again.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s still to be determined if those hopes are warranted or just wishful. The United Arab Emirates said Friday that it responded to another Iranian missile barrage, hours after the United States said it traded fire with Iranian forces in the Strait of Hormuz, in the latest blows to a shaky month-old ceasefire.<\/p>\n
But economists said the latest jobs data was encouraging, particularly given that it followed a stronger-than-expected report for March. That stretch of time saw the price for a barrel of Brent crude oil spike from roughly $70 in late February to as high as $119 as the fighting and closure of the Strait of Hormuz kept oil tankers pent up in the Persian Gulf.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Brent rose 0.6 per cent to $100.65 per barrel after drifting between small gains and losses earlier in the morning.<\/p>\n
Another big factor helping to support the U.S. stock market despite the war\u2019s uncertainties is the strong profits that companies have been reporting for the start of 2026.<\/p>\n
Monster Beverage jumped 13.2 per cent after the energy drink maker joined the parade of companies topping analysts\u2019 expectations for profit and revenue for the latest quarter. It benefited from strong growth outside the United States, and total net sales there made up about 45 per cent of its total, the highest percentage ever for it.<\/p>\n
Akamai Technologies leaped even more, 18.2 per cent, after its results squeaked past expectations. It announced a $1.8 billion deal to provide cloud infrastructure services to an unnamed client over seven years. The cybersecurity and cloud computing company is benefiting from the surge in investment in artificial-intelligence technology.<\/p>\n
Such voracious demand for AI helped CoreWeave report revenue for the latest quarter that was more than double what it was a year earlier, but its net loss was worse than analysts expected. It also gave a forecasted range for revenue in the current quarter whose midpoint fell below analysts\u2019 expectations. The stock of the company, which offers AI computing power to customers over the cloud, fell 8.9 per cent.<\/p>\n
In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe and Asia. Germany\u2019s DAX lost 0.8 per cent, and Hong Kong\u2019s Hang Seng dropped 0.9 per cent for two of the bigger losses.<\/p>\n
South Korea\u2019s Kospi was an exception, and it inched up 0.1 per cent to another all-time high.<\/p>\n
In the bond market, Treasury yields eased and remained lower after a report suggested sentiment among U.S. consumers is still stuck near its lowest level since 2022. Consumers told the survey from the University of Michigan they\u2019re concerned about both high gasoline prices and tariffs, though their expectations for inflation in the coming year softened by a bit.<\/p>\n
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.35 per cent from 4.41 per cent late Thursday and from 4.45 per cent early this week.<\/p>\n
Lower yields can bring down rates for mortgages and other kinds of loans going to U.S. households and businesses, which in turn can give the economy a boost. Lower yields also tend to push upward on prices for stocks and other kinds of investments.<\/p>\n
The 10-year Treasury yield, though, remains well above its 3.97 per cent level from just before the war.<\/p>\n
Reuters and The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canada\u2019s benchmark index edged higher on Friday, supported by mining stocks while investors drew optimism from signs that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":104264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[2668,865,11324,36203,5355,213,39,18146,7278,36204,2361],"class_list":{"0":"post-104263","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-persian-gulf","8":"tag-banks","9":"tag-dow-jones","10":"tag-equities","11":"tag-marketupdate","12":"tag-newsletter","13":"tag-oil","14":"tag-persian-gulf","15":"tag-sp","16":"tag-stocks","17":"tag-tsx","18":"tag-wall-street"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116539962588109099","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}