TSX up 370 Points With Miners, Healthcare, Leading Gains, Tech Sector Higher

12:20 PM EST, 02/06/2026 (MT Newswires) -- The Toronto Stock Exchange is up near 370 points midday with most sectors higher.

Best performers are miners (+3.4%), boosted by higher gold prices, and healthcare (+1.5%). Tech stocks, which had experienced a broad sell-off this week, is up 1%.

Telecoms, down 1.1%, is the worst performer.

The focus in Canada is on the jobs data. Canada's economy lost 25,000 jobs in January (-0.1% month/month), weaker than consensus expectations for a 5,000 increase. But as TD noted, the details were "healthier", with full-time positions rising 45,000, while part time tumbled 70k. Since January 2025, full time positions are up 149.000, while part-time roles have fallen by 14,000. The unemployment rate tumbled back to 6.5% from 6.8% in December.

The unemployment rate was pulled down by 119,000 people leaving the labor force, but the economy still shed 25,000 jobs, TD points out.

"This is a trend to keep an eye on," TD said, adding. "Canada's population is expected to shrink in 2026, meaning a smaller pool of available workers. Under these conditions the unemployment rate can continue to fall even if Canada is losing jobs."

Over at Desjardins, Head of Macro Strategy Royce Mendes said it's possible that some or all of the job numbers will reverse in upcoming data releases. He also noted the decline in manufacturing employment might be more trade related and structural, while job losses in education could be the result of fewer non-permanent resident students enrolled in the new semester, with virtually no population growth reported for the month of January. Falling public administration employment is potentially tied to the federal government's efforts to reduce payrolls, while average hourly wage growth looked "anemic" in January, potentially reflecting the weak underlying trends in the labour market.

Mendes added: "The first set of employment data for the new year provide little clarity about the state of the labour market. With Governor Macklem sounding hawkish yesterday, we don't believe the Bank of Canada will take much signal from this report. Market participants aren't taking much direction from this data either."

For RBC, the bottom line is that the details of the first Canadian employment report for 2026 were mixed, but broadly point to further signs of improvement in (per-worker) labor market conditions.

RBC also continues to expect a significant shift in the underlying structural drivers of labor force growth; unprecedented pause in population growth and the continued aging of the population, means that the combination of softer looking employment growth driving larger-than-usual declines in the unemployment rate will be a persistent feature in 2026 labor market data. "We remain cautiously optimistic that an improving per-person GDP growth backdrop in the year ahead will be enough to push the unemployment rate broadly lower in 2026. We do not expect further interest rate reductions from the Bank of Canada will be necessary, but also do not expect a pivot to rate hikes until 2027."

MT Newswires does not provide investment advice. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.