TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index gained more than 300 points to end the week as strength in the energy, base metal and technology sectors helped lead a broad-based rally, while U.S. markets also climbed higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 303.84 points at 20,542.03.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 546.64 points at 33,674.38.The S&P 500 index was up 75.03 points at 4,136.25, while the Nasdaq composite was up 269.01 points, or more than two per cent, at 12,235.41.
U.S. regional banks helped lead the rally south of the border, which spilled over into Canada, said Tamsin Wilding, fixed income analyst at Leith Wheeler.
But that wasn’t the only thing contributing to the positive end to what was otherwise a choppy and volatile week, she said: jobs data in both Canada and the U.S. came in stronger than expected, fuelling investor relief at the continued possibility of a soft landing.
The U.S. labour market added 253,000 jobs in April, while Canada added 41,400 new jobs last month.
“It really caps off a week of data which accentuates that story that the (Federal Reserve) keeps narrating, which is that growth is only slowing mildly,” said Wilding.
“I think it is that growth resilience, and it does alleviate fears that things aren’t an outright collapse.”
Shares in Apple also helped lift markets Friday as the tech company posted better results than expected, with the company’s stock price up 4.7 per cent.
Oil prices bounced back above US$70 a barrel after sinking lower this week on economic uncertainty, helping add fuel to the uptick on the TSX. The TSX energy index was up 3.3 per cent.
The banking sector will likely continue to dominate the narrative next week, said Wilding, as well as continued investor focus on the bigger picture.
“The market is going to continue to very closely track economic data, given that the Fed has implied data dependency at the moment,” she said, adding that a hypersensitivity to economic data releases has been a major characteristic of markets as of late.
However, though markets have felt volatile on a day-to-day basis, Wilding noted that over the medium term, they’ve remained rangebound.
The Canadian dollar traded for 74.48 cents US compared with 73.71 cents US on Thursday.
The June crude contract was up US$2.78 at US$71.34 per barrel and the June natural gas contract was up four cents at US$2.14 per mmBTU.
The June gold contract was down US$30.90 at US$2,024.80 an ounceand the July copper contract was up two cents at US$3.88 a pound.
— With files from The Associated Press
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 5, 2023.
Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX_CADUSD=X)
