12:22 PM EST, 11/08/2024 (MT Newswires) -- The Toronto Stock Exchange is down 153 points at midday, with miners (-5%) and energy (-1.7%) the biggest decliners.

Telecoms, up 1%, is the biggest gainer.

Oil prices weakened early on Friday after fresh economic stimulus measures from China failed to impress as demand worries continue.

Gold edged up as the dollar rose while treasury yields were mixed

Market attention here returned to Canadian data today, after the U.S. had been very much in focus over recent days.

RBC Economics noted employment rose 15k in October, close to expectations but running well below population growth, still elevated at 85k in October. The unemployment rate held steady at 6.5% after declining for the first time since January in September. For RBC the Bottom Line is that October marked a second straight month of headline labour market data that was better than feared -- particularly the unemployment rate holding steady after ticking lower in September. But it said details were once again softer than headlines would suggest. Hiring demand has continued to slow with job openings falling. RBC continues to think the most likely near-term path for the unemployment rate is higher rather than lower.

RBC said it continues to think there is more urgency for the Bank of Canada to respond to a underperforming Canadian economy, and slowing inflation pressures, with larger and more interest rate cuts than other advanced economy central banks. RBC's base-case forecast assumes the BoC will cut the overnight rate by another 50 basis points in December.

CIBC noted that although the headline unemployment rate didn't increase as expected, that was due to a fall in overall participation and a decline in joblessness among young people following the summer spike. It said the detail of the data suggests that softness within the labour market remains and the rise in core working age unemployment should be a concern for policymakers. While there is one more labour market report and plenty of other data between now and the Bank's December decision, CIBC continues to lean towards a further 50bp cut.

Meanwhile, David Doyle, head of economics at Macquarie, noted the FOMC yesterday cut the fed funds rate by 25 bps into the 4.5 to 4.75% range as was widely anticipated. There were minor shifts to the statement language that Powell emphasized were not intended to provide a policy signal. During his press conference the Chair outlined that he would not resign if requested to do so by President-elect Trump. He also suggested further cuts are likely forthcoming, but that their pace and timing were dependent on incoming data.

Doyle added: "Our base case remains for a further 25 bps cut in December. Beyond this, the timing and pace of further cuts has become uncertain. We suspect that in December the committee rate projections (the dots) may shift somewhat hawkishly, reflecting reduced downside risks relative to what had appeared to be the case at September's meeting."