Canadian Market Recovers After Early Setback

(RTTNews) - After opening weak and falling further down, the Canadian market staged a recovery Friday morning, and is up marginally a little before noon.

Stocks tumbled in early trades as data showing a larger than expected addition of jobs in Canada in the month of September fueled concerns that the central bank might announce another interest rate hike this year.

The U.S. Labor Department's report also showed a strong addition in employment in the world's largest economy in the month of September, raising concerns about the outlook for interest rates.

Healthcare, utilities and real estate stocks are among the major losers. Several stocks from communications, consumer staples and financials sectors are also weak.

A few stocks from technology and materials sectors have moved higher. Energy, industrials and consumer discretionary stocks are turning in a mixed performance.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which fell to 18,907.62, losing about 230 points in the process, has recovered to 19,161.26 about a quarter before noon, gaining 23.45 points or 0.12%.

Data from Statistics Canada showed the Canadian economy created 63,800 jobs in September, the highest in eight months, more than three times the expected addition. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate remained unchanged for the third consecutive period at 5.5% in September, the highest since January 2022.

In the U.S., non-farm payroll employment shot up by 336,000 jobs in September compared to economist estimates for an increase of about 170,000 jobs, the Labor Department data showed. The report also showed notable upward revisions to job growth in the two previous months.