Bay Street Likely To See Some Wild Swings; U.S., Canadian Jobs Data In Focus

(RTTNews) - Jobs data from Canada and the U.S. are set to make a significant impact on price movements in the Canadian market on Friday. The market may see some wild fluctuations early on in the session, but activity may turn a bit stock specific later on.

Oil and metal prices are likely to make an impact as well.

Employment in Canada rose by 90,400 in April, the most in 15 months, after seeing a 2,200 drop in March. The unemployment rate was at 6.1% in April, unchanged from a month earlier.

On the U.S. non-farm payroll front, the Labor Department report is expected to show an addition of 185,000 jobs in May after climbing by 175,000 jobs in April, while the unemployment rate is expected to remain at 3.9%.

After moving in a narrow range in somewhat lackluster trades, the Canadian market ended modestly higher on Thursday, thanks to strong gains in materials and energy sectors.

The Bank of Canada and the European Central Bank's rate cut announcements, and expectations of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve in September, helped underpin sentiment.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended up by 84.08 points or 0.38% at 22,229.10. The index started off on a slightly negative note, but moved into positive territory swiftly and stayed in a tight band till the end of the day's session.

Asian stocks ended mixed on Friday but managed to snap a two-week losing streak following interest rate cuts from the European Central Bank and the Bank of Canada.

Sluggish U.S. economic data also spurred hopes for rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, while China reported mixed trade data.

European stocks are down in negative territory with investors a bit reluctant to hold positions at higher levels ahead of the crucial U.S. non-farm payroll data that could provide some clues about the outlook for Fed interest rates.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures are up $0.53 or 0.7% at $76.08 a barrel.

Gold futures are down $37.90 or 1.59% at $2,353.00 an ounce, while Silver futures are lower by $0.842 or 2.7% at $30.525 an ounce.