TORONTO — Canadian and American markets moved higher on Friday, with the TSX posting a new all-time closing high, even as jobs reports in both countries painted different economic pictures.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 307.06 points at 38,904.04. The S&P 500 index was up 57.13 points at 5,204.34 and the Nasdaq composite was up 199.44 points at 16,248.52, both gaining more than one per cent.
Markets have tended in recent months to take strong economic reports as bad news because they indicate that central banks could continue holding interest rates for longer instead of cutting.“The markets are taking this in stride,” he said, as the outlook for corporate profits outweighs the potential for fewer and later rate cuts.
Canada’s unemployment rate jumped to 6.1 per cent and the country lost 2,200 jobs, faring worse than expected.Canada’s economy has not weathered the interest-rate storm nearly as well as the U.S. has, though neither country has started cutting interest rates.