North American stock markets hit record highs again Friday as strong earnings from some of the big U.S. banks painted a picture of an economy that is still humming.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 409.74 points to set a new record at 42,863.86. The S&P 500 index was up 34.98 points to hit a new all-time high at 5,815.03, while the Nasdaq composite was up 60.89 points at 18.342.94.
Banks traditionally kick off the earnings reporting season in the U.S., so the encouraging numbers that came out Friday suggested that results from other companies and sectors may also be positive, Petursson said. Traders are watching corporate earnings closely because they want to see signs that the U.S. Federal Reserve is on track to achieve a"soft landing," the term for the sweet spot achieved by central banks when they seek to raise interest rates enough to gain control of inflation but without tipping the economy into recession.
But Petursson said the Fed could choose to not cut at all, given a report earlier this week that showed U.S. inflation at the consumer level isn't cooling as quickly as economists expected. On Friday, fresh monthly jobs data from Statistics Canada came in stronger than many economists expected, but the longer-term trend in Canada's labour market has still been downward.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.67 cents US compared with 72.71 cents US on Thursday, and Petursson said there will continue to be downward pressure on the loonie if the Bank of Canada's monetary policy continues to appear to be headed for a different trajectory than the U.S. Fed.
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