Canada’s technology and mining shares dragged the main stock index lower on Friday as upbeat U.S. jobs data deepened concerns of more interest rate hikes.
At 9:39 a.m. ET, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was down 171.53 points, or 0.82%, at 20,860.28.
Data showed that U.S. nonfarm payrolls rose by 390,000 jobs last month, while the unemployment rate held steady at 3.6%, signaling a tight labor market.
“With nonfarm payrolls indicating continuing job growth, and average hourly earnings indicating high wage inflation, investors don’t appear to be seeing any reason for the Fed to slow its monetary tightening program,” said Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at SIA Wealth Management.
Markets worldwide are balking at the prospect of soaring inflation and aggressive policy tightening tipping the global economy into a recession.
Technology shares fell 2.8%, tracking weakness in Wall Street peers on the Nasdaq index.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he has a “super bad feeling” about the economy and wants to cut about 10% of jobs at the electric-car maker, according to an internal email seen by Reuters.
The materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, lost 1.4% as gold futures fell 0.6% to $1,856.2 an ounce.
The financials sector slipped 0.8%, while the industrials sector fell 0.7%.
The benchmark index, which has gained 0.52% so far this week, was set for its third straight weekly gain on strength in defensive sectors and energy shares.
On the economic front, domestic labor productivity fell by 0.5% in the first quarter, as growth in hours worked outpaced the growth in business output, Statistics Canada said. This was the seventh consecutive quarterly decline.
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