TSX Ends Notably Lower As Stocks Drop On Interest Rate Concerns

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market closed notably lower on Friday, hurt by rising bond yields, and fading optimism about interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve after data showed stronger-than-expected growth in U.S. non-farm payroll employment.

Canadian employment data too came in stronger than expected, reducing prospects of any significant monetary easing by the Bank of Canada.

Data from Statistics Canada showed employment in Canada advanced by 91,000 in December 2024, the largest gain since January 2023, following a 51,000 rise in the previous month.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in Canada dropped to 6.7% in December, from 6.8% a month earlier.

Data from the Labor Department showed U.S. non-farm payroll employment surged by 256,000 in December, after jumping by a downwardly revised 212,000 jobs in November. The unemployment rate in the U.S. edged down to 4.1% in December from 4.2% in November. The rate was expected to come in unchanged.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which tumbled to 24,693.75 in early trades, closed down 305.63 points or 1.22% at 24,767.73. The index shed about 1.1% in the week.

Healthcare, financials, real estate, communications and technology stocks declined sharply. Several stocks from materials, utilities and consumer staples sectors also closed notably lower.

Energy stocks had a good outing as oil prices rose sharply after U.S. imposted sweeping sanctions on Russia, targeting major oil companies and top executives.

Rogers Communications (RCI.B.TO), Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), Cameco Corporation (CCO.TO), Colliers International (CIGI.TO), TC Energy Corporation (TRP.TO), Stella-Jones (SJ.TO), goeasy (GSY.TO), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO), Wheaton Precious Metals (WPM.TO) and Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) lost 2 to 4%.

Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO), Dollarama Inc (DOL.TO), Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO), Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO) and Constellation Software (CSU.TO) also closed notably lower.

Aritzia Inc (ATZ.TO) climbed nearly 20% on strong results. The company reported a 57.5% jump in adjusted net income at 83.0 million for the third quarter, compared to a year ago.

Maple Leaf Foods (MFI.TO), Aura Minerals (ORA.TO), Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC.TO), Gildan Activewear (GIL.TO), Lundin Gold (LUG.TO), Suncor Energy (SU.TO), Hut 8 Corp (HUT.TO) and Imperial Oil (IMO.TO) also posted impressive gains.