TSX Up Firmly After Hitting New High As Investors Cheer U.S., Canadian Economic Data

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is up firmly in positive territory a little past noon on Friday with stocks from across several sectors moving higher as investors cheer upbeat jobs data, and a report showing a slight slowdown in the annual rate of U.S. producer prices growth.

Data from Statistics Canada showed that employment in Canada rose by 46,700 in September, the most in five months, extending the 22,100 increase in the previous month and well above the market consensus of a net increase of 27,000. The result was carried by a 112,000 surge in full-time employment, the biggest increase in over two years, to ease concerns of a softening labor market.

The unemployment rate in Canada eased to 6.5% in September from the 34-month high of 6.6% recorded in the previous month.

Average hourly earnings in Canada increased to C$36.54 in September over the previous month.

The total value of building permits slipped by 7% month-over-month to $11.5 billion in August 2024, following a downwardly revised 20.8% jump in July and more than an expected 5.5% drop, another data from Statistics Canada showed.

Data from the U.S. Labor Department said the annual rate of growth by producer prices slowed to 1.8% in September from an upwardly revised 1.9% in August. Economists had expected the annual rate of producer price growth to dip to 1.6% from the 1.7% originally reported for the previous month.

Technology, consumer discretionary, industrials, real estate, materials and financials shares are among the major gainers. Energy stocks are a bit subdued.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which hit a new record high at 24,518.55 this morning, is up 184.94 points or 0.76% at 24,487.20 nearly half an hour past noon.

Celestica Inc (CLS.TO), up nearly 4%, is the top gainer in the Information Technology Capped Index, which is up 1.5%. Converge Technology Solutions (CTS.TO), Bitfarms (BITF.TO), Docebo Inc (DCBO.TO), Descartes Systems (DSG.TO), Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), Constellation Software (CSU.TO), Quarterhill (QTRH.TO), Dye & Durham (DND.TO) and BlackBerry (BB.TO) are gaining 1.3 to 3%.

Consumer discretionary stocks Dollarama (DOL.TO) and Gildan Activewear (GIL.TO) are up 2.5% and 1.7%, respectively. Magna International (MG.TO), Spin Master Corp (TOY.TO) and BRP Inc (DOO.TO) are gaining 1.3 to 1.5%.

Real estate stocks Colliers International (CIGI.TO), Altus Group (AIF.TO), FirstService Corp (FSV.TO) and Smartcentres Real Estate Investment (SRU.UN.TO) are up 1.3 to 2%.

TFI International (TFII.TO), up 4%, NFI Group (NFI.TO), up 3%, Cargojet (CJT.TO), up 2.8% and Ats Corp (ATS.TO), up 2.3%, are among the top gainers in the industrials sector.

In the financials space, goeasy (GSY.TO), Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO), CDN Western Bank (CWB.TO), Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO), Laurentian Bank (LB.TO), National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) and Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO) are up 1.5 to 3%.

Materials shares First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO), B2Gold Corp (BTO.TO), Ero Copper (ERO.TO), Fortuna Silver Mines (FVI.TO), Novagold (NG.TO), Calibre Mining (CXB.TO) and Osisko Gold Royalties (OR.TO) are up 2 to 4%.

MTY Food Group Inc. (MTY.TO) is down 2.3%. The company reported third-quarter net income of $34.9 million, or $1.46 per diluted share compared to $38.9 million, or $1.59 per diluted share in the third-quarter of the previous financial year.

Aritzia Inc (ATZ.TO) is down more than 6%. The company reported after trading hours on Thursday that its net income increased 404.6% to $18.2 million, or 3.0% as a percentage of net revenue in the second quarter of 2024.