12:17 PM EDT, 05/09/2025 (MT Newswires) -- The Toronto Stock Exchange, which opened up 160 points in early trade, has pared most of its gains and is now 53 points higher.

The telecoms sector, up 3.2%, is the biggest gainer, followed by energy (+1.3%) and miners (+0.6%).

Telus ( TU ) which reported its first-quarter results earlier, is 6.3% higher, to $22.11. BCE and Rogers are both higher.

Limiting gains is the info tech sector, down near 2%.

Oil prices rose early Friday on hopes global trade tensions will ease as the U.S. and China ready to meet in Switzerland on the weekend for their first talks since the pair last month imposed punishing tariffs on each other's exports that have nearly halted all trade between the world's two largest economies. Gold prices also rose following two days of losses as the dollar fell off the highest in a month ahead of trade talks between the U.S. and China.

On the home front, Desjardins noted the Canadian labour market remained on "wobbly footing" in April. Employment rose 7K over the month which was broadly in line with consensus. Most of the slowdown in hiring came from the manufacturing and trade sectors. Ontario accounted for the majority of weakness in manufacturing. The April employment figures also got a temporary boost from the Federal election. Desjardins said: "While it's difficult to say for certain, without the temporary election hiring, employment seems likely to have been down 20-30K. The unemployment rate rose two ticks over the month and is now at 6.9%. That matches the level seen in November of last year and is the highest level since the pandemic. Furthermore, the unemployment rate for those aged 25-54 rose one tick to 5.8%, driven by a 36K decline in employment for that age group. Remember that this age group accounts for a larger share of consumption and household debt."

According to Desjardins, the Bank of Canada "should be concerned looking at these numbers". It said the elevated level of uncertainty, coupled with what has now been almost three months of weak readings should push central bankers to resume focusing on downside risks to the economy rather than upside risks to inflation. As such, Desjardins continues to see the BoC restarting its easing cycle in June with a 25 basis point cut following its brief pause in April. "As we've been saying for some time, we think the decision in June will be between cutting 25 or 50 basis points to support the economy," it added.

For RBC, the bottom line is that there are now clearer signs that the trade war is hitting Canadian labour market. Employment would have fallen by 30k in April had it not been a surge in public admin jobs thanks partly to temporary election hiring. Most of the decline outside of public administration can be traced back to manufacturing, where employment declined for a third straight month in April.

"Going forward," RBC said, "slower population growth and reduced demand for Canadian exports due to disruptive U.S. tariffs will remain headwinds to job growth in Canada. The economic outlook still remains highly contingent on the evolution of international trade risks but job openings have continued to edge lower, signaling more softening in hiring in the pipeline. Overall, we expect slowing conditions will push the unemployment rate up to over 7% this year."