04:23 PM EDT, 08/01/2025 (MT Newswires) -- The Toronto Stock Exchange on Friday saw its losses for the last three sessions since Tuesday's record close rise to near 500 points, as an "arbitrary" deadline for a trade agreement between Canada and the United States passed, leading to President Donald Trump applying a 35% tariff to many Canadian goods.

The S&P/TSX Composite index closed down 239.35 points to 27,020.43, down from the Tuesday record close of 27,539.88. Most sectors were in the red, led by Info Tech down near 2.3%. The Battery Metals Index was one of the few gainers, up 0.3%.

On sectors, Rosenberg Research published a note titled 'Our Big Picture Investment Themes' which it said "a screen of global equity markets points to increasing ex. U.S. exposure". It remains Underweight on the Energy sector, but sees Canadian Utilities as "an attractive single-sector diversification strategy".

Rosenberg Research said precious metals are "the pick" of the commodity space, noting gold "has tailwinds which should sustain the rally" and gold mining stocks "have a bright future". The research added precious metals like platinum, palladium, and rhodium "each face a complex supply picture, so we suggest different time horizons", while silver is "set to post solid gains when it mean-reverts towards its typical relationship with gold". According to Rosenberg Research, other gold-exposed financial assets are also "poised for a run", while supply-demand imbalances in non-precious metals make it "bullish" on uranium, copper, graphite, lithium, and aluminum.

On trade, Canada has refused to roll over and accept whatever deal the Trump Administration was willing to offer it on trade ahead of a penciled in deadline of today. CBC News on Friday afternoon carried an interview with Dominic LeBlanc, the Minister Responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade, during which he said the Canadian federal government is "not going to accept any deal because of an arbitrary time line" the Americans set. He added his government continues to look for the best deal for Canada: "If yesterday afternoon that deal wasn't clearly on the table, then we will continue to talk with the Americans." LeBlanc noted he has agreed to talk again with Howard Lutnick, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, over a phone next week.

The Canadian Press is reporting business groups are anxiously watching trade negotiations and don't want the country to rush into a deal, but say the uncertainty is weighing on their members. The report noted groups representing Canada's small businesses, steel producers and more spent Friday hammering a unified message: "no deal is better than a bad deal".

"A little more time now can deliver lasting benefits for an integrated North American economy - and that's well worth the wait," said Candace Laing, chief executive of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, in a statement.

In a bigger picture, but somewhat related note, Derek Holt, Head of Capital Markets Economics at Scotiabank, published 'Good Things May Come From Bad Payrolls' in which he noted the U.S. job market is "suddenly weaker than previously thought" after today's nonfarm payrolls. Holt in the summary noted negative revisions for May and June were the biggest since the pandemic first struck. "Trump administration policies are likely at fault," he said, before adding later in his note: "So what really caused the revisions to seasonally unadjusted payrolls in May and June? That's unclear. But it's possible that amid the turmoil that has employers scrambling to deal with the effects of rapid change to trade, immigration, fiscal and other policies, that data quality is being further impaired by low response rates."

Holt noted markets assumed the Fed will rapidly shift toward easing interest rates on the back of numbers like these, that showed a negative revision to job growth in May and June that totaled 258,000 positions. But he said "the bigger policy pivot may have to be made by the Trump administration".

Perhaps, Holt said, some good may come of it. "To date," he added, "markets and fundamentals have not shown enough of an impact of soaring policy uncertainty. That may be changing. If so, then along with the ongoing court challenge against Trump's tariffs, this may be the best hope to restore some sense of reason within the US administration in terms of the toxic effects of its trade policies on the world and US economies. All along, the best hope for pushing back against US tariffs as they went globally has been to exact a toll on the US itself."

Holt's comments came before President Trump directed his team to "immediately" fire Dr. Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, whom he accused of manipulating the monthly jobs reports for "political purposes".

Of commodities today, gold was sharply higher late afternoon on Friday as the dollar and yields plunged after the U.S. reported new hiring rose less than expected in July, while estimates for job growth in May and June were cut by a quarter-million positions as the country's economy slows under President's Donald Trump's economic policies. Gold for December delivery was last seen up $62.20 to US$3,410.80 per ounce.

But West Texas Intermediate crude oil closed lower as investors shed risk assets after fresh U.S. tariffs and a weak U.S. jobs report raised worries over slowing global growth. WTI crude oil closed down $1.93 to settle at US$67.33 per barrel, while October Brent oil was down $2.05 to US$69.65.