Canadian Stocks Are Struggling To Find Direction -- Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market is down slightly Friday morning, following the gains of the previous 2 sessions. The market has been attempting to bounce back from the sharp losses at the beginning of the trading week.

The market has struggled to find direction Friday, which also seems to be true of global equity markets in general at the end of a volatile week of trading. Oil prices are struggling to maintain current levels, while the price of gold has ticked up noticeably.

The highly anticipated U.S. jobs report for December was released this morning and while employment grew more than expected, investors were disappointed by a slowdown in wage growth.

The U.S. Labor Department announced that non-farm payroll employment climbed by 252,000 jobs in December, compared to expectations for an increase of about 245,000 jobs.

The stronger than expected job growth helped to push the unemployment rate down to 5.6 percent in December from 5.8 percent in November. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to dip to 5.7 percent. The bigger than expected drop pulled the rate down to its lowest level since June of 2008.

However, despite the continued job growth, the report also said average hourly employee earnings fell by $0.05 to $24.57 in December. The annual rate of average hourly earnings growth slowed to 1.7 percent in December, the slowest rate of growth since October of 2012.

The mixed results from the employment report painted a mixed picture regarding the outlook for monetary policy. Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans on Friday said the central bank should be patient on raising interest rates due to concerns about low inflation and declining U.S. wages. Evans stated in a CNBC interview that he would not start raising rates from zero before 2016.

Meanwhile, Canadian employment dropped by 4,300 jobs in December, following the loss of nearly 10,700 in November. Economists had expected employment to increase by 15,000 jobs in December. The unemployment rate held steady at 6.6 percent.

Statistics Canada also reported Friday that Canadian building permits tumbled by 13.8 percent in November, to C$6.58 billion. This was the second largest decline in four months. Economists had been calling for a modest gain of 0.5 percent.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 6.43 points or 0.04 percent at 14,451.29.

On Thursday, the index closed up 172.72 points or 1.21 percent, at 14,457.72. The index scaled an intraday high of 14,506.14 and a low of 14,368.58.

The Gold Index is rising by 3.79 percent at the end of the week, as the price of gold has ticked higher. Barrick Gold (ABX.TO) is up 2.03 percent and Kinross Gold (K.TO) is adding 4.95 percent. B2Gold (BTO.TO) is higher by 4.46 percent and Royal Gold (RGL.TO) is advancing by 2.85 percent. Goldcorp (G.TO) is also climbing by 4.24 percent.

The Capped Materials Index is also rising by 1.59 percent. Franco-Nevada (FNV.TO) is increasing by 2.27 percent and Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) is up 3.65 percent. Yellowhead Mining (YMI.TO) is surging by 10 percent and Primero Mining (P.TO) is up 5.19 percent.

The Energy Index is up modestly, with a gain of 0.24 percent. Suncor Energy (SU.TO) is up 1.14 percent and Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) is higher by 0.42 percent. Canadian Oil Sands (COS.TO) is up 1.39 percent and Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO) is adding 1.87 percent.

Encana (ECA.TO) is down 0.84 percent and Pacific Rubiales (PRE.TO) is falling by 2.30 percent.

The Financial Index is under pressure at the end of the week, falling by 1.57 percent. Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) is down 1.70 percent and Toronto-Dominion (TD.TO) is losing 1.52 percent. Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) and National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) are both decreasing by 1.75 percent. Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) is falling by 1.81 percent and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) is down 2.05 percent.

Alterra Power (AXY.TO) is climbing by 4.62 percent. The company announced after the close Thursday that it agreed to sell its Soda Lake facility for $8.5 million.

In commodities, crude oil futures for February delivery are down $0.37 or 0.76 percent at $48.42 a barrel.

Natural gas for February is up $0.03 or 1.02 percent at $2.957 per million btu.

Gold futures for February are up $10.30 or 0.85 percent at $1,218.80 an ounce.

Silver for March is up $0.15 or 0.92 percent at $16.535 an ounce.