* Equities rally but S&P 500, Nasdaq fall for the week. * Greenback dips as risk assets catch a bid. * Cryptocurrencies, precious metals rebound after steep losses. * Oil settled higher as US-Iran talks get under way. By Sin?ad Carew and Sophie Kiderlin.
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren on Friday challenged President Donald Trump's denial of involvement in a Justice Department investigation of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that has heightened concerns about the Fed's independence and complicated the president's plan to install a rate-cut friendly Fed chair.
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren on Friday challenged President Donald Trump's denial of involvement in a Justice Department investigation of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that has heightened concerns about the Fed's independence and complicated the president's plan to install a rate-cut friendly Fed chair.
* TSX up 1.5% at 32,470.98, * Posts biggest gain since October 14. * Miners lead as gold rebounds. * Unemployment rate falls to 6.5% By Fergal Smith. Canada's main stock index rounded out a volatile week on a strong note on Friday as metal ?prices rallied and investors took advantage of recent cheapening of the market.
Friday's January jobs report continued the string of strange labour market reports, with a big drop in the participation rate taking the unemployment rate down 0.3 percentage points to 6.5%, RBC Capital Markets said in its weekly soundbites. Another big swing, lower this time, in the labor force and participation rate pushed the unemployment rate 0.3pp lower despite a 25,000-job decline.
* Dollar retreats from two-week high as risk assets rebound. * Yen softens ahead of Japan's national election. * Euro and sterling recover after central bank decisions. By Laura Matthews. The dollar slipped from two-week highs on Friday, returning some safe-haven gains as risk assets rebounded from a deep rout driven by concerns over a surge in AI-related spending this year.
San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly on Friday said she thinks one or two more interest rate cuts may be needed to counteract weakness in the labor market, where workers are "walking a knife's edge" with higher prices eating into their wages and scarce opportunities for new jobs.
US equity indexes rebounded ahead of Friday's close, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average surging past the 50,000 milestone for the first time, amid a broad-based rally led by technology and value-oriented sectors.
Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson said that he supported the FOMC's decision to hold the policy rate steady at its January meeting and is "cautiously optimistic" about the outlook for the US economy, adding that he sees the current policy rate as already close to neutral.
* Bessent says Trump has 'great respect' for Fed, central bank's independence. * Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott has said Fed chief Powell did not break law. * Senator Tillis has vowed to block nomination for top Fed job until Powell probe resolved. By Andrea Shalal.
Argentina's industrial output fell ?3.9% in ?December compared to ?the ?same ?month in 2024 in ?non-seasonally ?adjusted terms, data from ?national ?statistics agency ?INDEC showed on Friday. December industrial ?output in South America's second-largest economy decreased 0.1% ?compared ?to November in ?seasonally adjusted terms, according to the INDEC data.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday stressed that President Donald Trump was joking when he said over the weekend that he could sue Kevin Warsh, his nominee to lead the Federal Reserve, if he doesn't lower interest rates.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday stressed that President Donald Trump ?was joking when he said over ?the weekend that he ?could sue Kevin Warsh, his ?nominee ?to lead the Federal Reserve, if ?he doesn't lower ?interest rates.
* Canadian dollar gains 0.5% against the greenback. * For the week, the loonie is down 0.2% * Economy sheds 24,800 jobs in January. * Bond yields edge higher across the curve. By Fergal Smith. The Canadian dollar strengthened against ?its U.S. counterpart on Friday as stock markets rebounded and investors weighed mixed domestic employment ?data.
US consumer sentiment reached its highest reading since August, but remained low compared with year-ago levels amid persistent concerns related to inflation and the labor market, preliminary results from a University of Michigan survey showed Friday. The main sentiment index rose to 57.3 this month from 56.4 in January.
* Dollar slips from two-week high as risk assets rebound. * Yen weakens ahead of Japan's national election. * Euro and sterling recover after central bank decisions. By Laura Matthews and Amanda Cooper.
The Toronto Stock Exchange is up near 370 points midday with most sectors higher. Best performers are miners, boosted by higher gold prices, and healthcare. Telecoms, down 1.1%, is the worst performer. The focus in Canada is on the jobs data. 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.
* Daly sees disconnect between cautious optimism among businesses, job worries for workers. * Fed policymakers are weighing the balance of inflation and employment risks. * Upcoming jobs report a key focus as central bankers weigh options. By Ann Saphir.
Federal Reserve Vice Chair Philip Jefferson said on Friday he was "cautiously optimistic" about the 2026 economic outlook, with growth expected to remain slightly above trend, the labor market stabilizing, and inflation resuming a decline to the U.S. central bank's 2% target.
European stock markets gained in Friday trading as the Stoxx Europe rose 0.9%, Germany's DAX gained 0.9%, the FTSE 100 was up 0.6%, France's CAC increased 0.5%, and the Swiss Market Index advanced 0.3%. According to the European Central Bank's Q1 survey of professional forecasts, headline and core harmonized index of consumer prices inflation expectations were unchanged, as were GDP growth expe...
San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly said on Friday she thinks the U.S. labor market is in a "precarious" position, saying there could have been a case for the Fed to cut rates last week and that further interest-rate cuts may be needed.
* German yields take cues from elsewhere. * BofA no longer expects March rate cut. * French 10-year yield spread versus Bund at widest in two weeks. By Stefano Rebaudo. German government bond yields were little changed on Friday after earlier touching multi-week lows, a day after the European Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged.
* TSX up 1.4% * Miners lead as gold rebounds. * Consumer staples record biggest weekly gain ever. * Canada's unemployment rate falls to 6.5% By Utkarsh Hathi. Feb 6 - Canada's main stock index jumped on Friday in a broad-based rally led by ?mining shares as precious metals rebounded on safe-haven demand, setting up the index to finish a ?volatile week with healthy gains.
Canadian economic activity expanded at a slower pace in January as ?a measure of employment dipped, ?Ivey Purchasing Managers Index ?data showed on Friday. The ?seasonally adjusted ?index edged down to 50.9 ?last month from ?51.9 in December.
U.S. consumer sentiment increased to a six-month high in February, though anxiety over the labor market and the rising cost of living because of import-tariff-related inflation remained widespread.
Bitcoin surged 6% as U.S. planned layoffs more than tripled in January to their highest level since 2009, raising hopes the Federal Reserve will cut rates to support the economy and put a floor under risk assets down nearly 50% from highs.
The University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment index rises to 57.3 in February from 56.4 in January, higher than expectations for a decrease to 55.0 in a survey compiled by Bloomberg. This is the highest reading since August 2025, Michigan said.
The ECB's plan to make it easier for foreign central banks to secure funding in euros is the latest part of Europe's emerging strategy to win trade and political friends and hold its own against the United States and China.
Brazil's economic policy chief Guilherme Mello said on Friday that stabilizing the country's gross debt-to-gross domestic product ratio depends on monetary policy decisions, offering a glimpse of what he could support as a potential central banker.
Rosenberg Research revised its briefly-held constructive view on the Canadian dollar in light of the economy's "complete failure to respond to the Bank of Canada's rate cuts so far. Although the Canadian dollar has rallied against the US dollar in the last few months, this has been a consequence of US dollar weakness rather than loonie strength, noted Rosenberg Research.
DAVOS, Switzerland and MUMBAI, India, Feb. 6, 2026 ACG Packaging Materials today announced that its Shirwal facility has been named a global Lighthouse and welcomed into the World Economic Forum's Lighthouse Network.
The broad market exchange-traded fund SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust was up 0.6% and the actively traded Invesco QQQ Trust was 0.7% higher in Friday's premarket activity, ahead of the University of Michigan consumer sentiment report release.
Employment in Canada fell to start the year, but with fewer people seeking jobs, the unemployment rate also surprisingly came down, said CIBC after Friday's Labour Force Survey. The 25,000 decline in employment compared with a consensus expectation for a 5,000 gain, although the reduction was driven exclusively by part-time positions, with full-time jobs actually increasing, noted the bank.
Employment edged down in January by 25,000 jobs, or 0.1% month over month, and the employment rate decreased 0.1 percentage point to 60.8%, said Statistics Canada on Friday it its Labour Force Survey. January's job losses were worse than the 5,200 consensus gain provided by MUFG. In January, employment fell by 27,000 among core-aged women, wrote Canada's statistical agency in a statement.
Top brokerages expect the benchmark S&P 500 index to extend its rally in 2026, as investors pile into artificial intelligence plays and bet on ?reduced borrowing costs to sustain the momentum. The benchmark index will ?rise nearly 12% to 7,490 by end-2026, marking ?a fourth straight year of ?advances if ?2025 closes higher, according to a Reuters poll.
* Unemployment rate falls to 6.5% as fewer seek work. * Full-time jobs rise, part-time jobs decline significantly. * Manufacturing sector hit by U.S. tariffs, loses 27,500 jobs. * Canadian dollar slightly strengthens against U.S. dollar. * Labor market softening after previous months' gains, says Bank of Canada. By David Ljunggren.
China on Friday pledged to further tighten restrictions ?on virtual currencies ?and related illicit business ?activities, according ?to ?a notice released by China's ?central ?bank.
Brazil's economic policy chief Guilherme Mello said on Friday that ?stabilizing the country's gross debt-to-gross ?domestic product ratio depends ?on monetary policy decisions, ?among other ?factors.
The US dollar fell against its major trading partners early Friday ahead of the release of the University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment index for February at 10:00 am ET, followed by the St. Louis Federal Reserve's latest gross domestic product Nowcast estimate for Q4 around midday.
Canada will publish the Labour Force Survey for January at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday, said Scotiabank. The bank has gone with an estimated gain of 15,000 and a stable unemployment rate of 6.8%. Canada has surprisingly created almost 200,000 jobs over the past four months of consecutive gains, stated Scotiabank.
The Board of Mexico's central bank unanimously decided to keep the policy rate unchanged at 7.00% on Thursday, signaling that demand-side pressures aren't a key driver behind its policy assessment, said BBVA Research.
Hang onto your hats, On the Money readers! Gold is soaring, software stocks are crashing amid AI concerns, inflation is heating up, Bitcoin is tumbling and consumer confidence is plummeting. These are just five reasons why investors are nervous now, but I'm sure there are many more.
European bourses tracked moderately higher midday Friday as traders weighed earnings, and Thursday's report from the European Central Bank that the continental economy is expanding, and inflation is generally muted. Bank, oil, and property stocks led gains on regional trading floors, while food and retail shares lagged.
Sterling has weakened sharply over the last couple of trading days, said MUFG. After closing below support from the 200-day moving average at the start of this week for the first time sine April of last year and hitting a low of 0.8613, EUR/GBP jumped to a high Thursday of 0.8721, wrote the bank in a note to clients.
* Software swoon worsens amid questions about AI's impact. * Market rotating away from tech to less-loved sectors. * Jobs report due on Wednesday, CPI on Friday in busy data week. By Lewis Krauskopf.
In general the bond market is volatile, and fixed income securities carry interest rate risk. (As interest rates rise, bond prices usually fall, and vice versa. This effect is usually more pronounced for longer-term securities.) Fixed income securities also carry inflation risk and credit and default risks for both issuers and counterparties. Unlike individual bonds, most bond funds do not have a maturity date, so avoiding losses caused by price volatility by holding them until maturity is not possible.
Lower-quality debt securities generally offer higher yields, but also involve greater risk of default or price changes due to potential changes in the credit quality of the issuer. Any fixed income security sold or redeemed prior to maturity may be subject to loss.
Before investing, consider the funds' investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses. Contact Fidelity for a prospectus or, if available, a summary prospectus containing this information. Read it carefully.
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