Jobs Report: Canadian Dollar and Equity Markets

jobs report: Some of the U.S. excitement from a partial trade deal between the world's two largest economies has been absorbed by a strong rise in the loonie in reaction to a healthy jobs report, along with a sizable dip in gold stocks that represent an important share of the Canadian stock market, said Patrick Blais, senior portfolio manager at Manulife Asset Management, according to CTV. Part of the underperformance is related to just our currency going up and therefore the equity markets not reacting as much because a rising currency is usually not a good thing for equities, he said in an interview. The S&P/TSX composite index lost half a per cent on the day compared with 1.2 to 1.4 per cent gains by the three New York stock markets. The Canadian dollar traded for an average of 75.77 cents US, the highest level in a month and more than a half cent above the average of 75.22 cents US on Thursday. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 319.92 points at 26,816.59. The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 7.52 points at 16,415.16, lower than where it ended a week ago. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.