-- The Toronto Stock Exchange is up near 190 points early Friday afternoon with most sectors higher.
Base Metals and Energy are the best performers, up near 2.6% and 1.0%, respectively.
Info tech, down 1.25%, is the biggest decliner.
On the economics front, focus was on the release of Canada jobs data for April. Over at Desjardins, Tiago Figueiredo said Canada's labour market remained soft in April, with elevated energy prices likely adding to the strain. He noted after stabilizing in March, the economy shed 17.7K jobs in April, lifting the unemployment rate two ticks to 6.9%. All of the job losses were in full-time positions while part-time employment saw a gain of 29K.
Figueiredo said rising energy prices may have played some role here: job losses were concentrated in the transportation, recreation and construction sectors. Across provinces, there was notable weakness in Quebec, but that was largely offset by a rebound in Ontario. Additionally, there was no real evidence of additional hiring in the energy sector in Alberta.
Among the key points, Figueiredo noted the unemployment rate rose to the highest level since October of last year. Separately, wage growth accelerated again in April, but Statistics Canada pointed out that the recent acceleration is a result of changes in the composition of employment. Using a fixed-weight measure shows that wages increased 3.4% in April, consistent with fixed-weight rates seen in February and March.
"Despite some regional weakness, the details of today's release suggest the labour market is soft but not falling off a cliff. Given that policymakers need to balance this weakness with upside risks to inflation, we continue to expect the Bank of Canada remains on hold for the remainder of this year," Figueiredo said.
CIBC's view is that continued trade uncertainty and increased energy costs are likely making companies wary of adding to their workforce, and these worries are unlikely to ease in the near-term. The bank sees the unemployment rate holding near current levels throughout much of the year. With ample slack in the labour market, its less likely that core measures of inflation will accelerate much in the months ahead, and as a result CIBC doesn't think the Bank of Canada will need to respond to the current oil price shock by raising interest rates. CIBC continues to forecast no change in interest rates throughout 2026.