TSX positive on calming trade tensions, strong U.S. jobs report

Investing.com -- Canada’s main stock index was gaining on Friday, seeking to close higher after two straight days of minimal losses. Investors were examining 1Q results from Apple, Amazon, and others in this week’s earnings deluge, as well as digesting positive data in a key U.S. jobs report.

Underpinning sentiment was positive, as trade tensions between the U.S. and China have culminated in a potential deal. According to Bloomberg, China has been quietly exempting some U.S. goods from its tariffs, relieving $40 billion worth of imports to soften the effect on its economy.

By 11:00 ET, the bellwether S&P/TSX 60 index ticked up 7.5 points or 0.5% in trading

Toronto’s S&P/TSX also showed gains of 138.9 points or 0.6%, having finished Thursday down 46.13 points or 0.2%. In Wednesday’s trading, the index declined by 32.8 points or 0.1%.

Markets have seemingly had a week of reprieve from U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff chaos, as volatility has balanced out and U.S. markets have posted continual gains.

In other news, Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to hold the first press conference since his election win on Friday morning.

U.S. stocks jump

Trading in U.S. stocks was up on Friday, as investors sought to push the S&P 500 into the green for the 9th-straight day.

As of 11:00 ET, the S&P rose by 73.1 points or 1.3%, the Nasdaq jumped 245.2 points or 1.4%, and the Dow increased by 426.1 points or 1.1%.

In Thursday’s trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 55.4 points or 0.1%, the S&P 500 showed upside of 34.4 points or 0.6%, and the NASDAQ Composite followed with a jump of 264.4 points, or 1.5%.

The U.S.’ April Nonfarm Payrolls report showed jobs rose by 177,000, above expectations of 138,000. The U.S. unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%, in line with expectations.

The payrolls reading will be the most recent reflection of heightened economic uncertainty in the U.S., following on from gross domestic product data that showed the U.S. economy unexpectedly contracted in the first quarter.

Earnings

Shares of iPhone-maker Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) fell 3.6% after the company said it sees about $900 million in costs for the upcoming quarter due to tariffs.

Apple posted fiscal second-quarter results that topped Wall Street estimates on better-than-expected iPhone sales, but tariff concerns dented optimism.

Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) stock also slipped nearly 1% after the e-commerce giant reported softer guidance for the current quarter and underwhelming growth in its key cloud computing segment, AWS.

Crude Oil prices down

Oil prices fell in Friday’s trading, following a surprising day of gains on Thursday.

By 11:05 ET, WTI Crude was down 1.4%, pricing in at $58.39 a barrel, while Brent Oil fell 1.3% to $61.34 per barrel.

Both benchmarks are still set to post weekly losses of over 6% amid concerns that the broader trade war could push the global economy into a recession and crimp oil demand, just as the OPEC+ group is preparing to raise output.

Gold Futures gain

Gold traded up on Friday, following a Thursday drop. The precious metal surged to record highs in the midst of Trump’s trading chaos, but has now seemed to balance out.

At 11:05 ET, Gold Spot rose 0.7% to $3,260.60/oz, while Gold Futures traded up 1.5%, pricing in at $3,270.21/oz.

(Peter Nurse also contributed to this article)

This article first appeared in Investing.com