Bay Street Shrugs Off Lousy Canadian Jobs Report -- Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks rallied Friday, as a strong U.S. jobs report overshadowed more lousy Canadian economic news.

Encuraging earnings results from some of Canada's largest companies helped drive Toronto's main index sharply higher.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index was up 119.99 points, or 0.83 percent, to a new yearly high of 14,648.

In economic news, U.S. Non-farm payroll employment surged up by 255,000 jobs in July after jumping by an upwardly revised 292,000 jobs in June, the Labor Department said.

The unemployment rate held at 4.9 percent due to increased workforce participation.

On the other hand, the Canadian economy shed 31,000 jobs. The jobless rate rose to 6.9 per cent from 6.8 per cent in June, Statistics Canada said in its monthly labor report released on Friday.

Magna International (MG.TO) said earnings improved slightly. The company also raised its outlook, sending shares higher by 5 percent

Telecome major Telus (T.TO) reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit and hiked its dividend. Shares rose 2.3 percent.

Plane and train maker Bombardier Inc. (BBD_B.TO, BBD_A.TO) said that its second-quarter net loss was $490 million or $0.24 per share, compared to profit of $125 million or $0.06 per share last year.

Also, its C Series order has been trimmed. Shares slipped 1.3 percent.