Investing.com – Canada’s main stock index dropped on Friday, after a softer-than-expected U.S. labor market data and soaring oil prices amid the ongoing conflict in Iran.
By 12.01 ET, the S&P/TSX 60 index standard futures contract had slumped 1.28%.
The S&P/TSX composite index dropped 400 point or 1.19% at 33,209.39.
Index slipped by 1% to 33,609.97 on Thursday, logging its lowest closing level since February 19.
An uptick in U.S. Treasury yields and a strengthening dollar, both partly driven by an uptick in oil prices due to the fighting in the Middle East, weighed on gold prices. The materials group, a key sector in the commodities-heavy TSX that includes metal mining shares, fell by 3.9%.
Financial stocks, which form another significant portion of the index, also retreated.
U.S. stocks slide
The benchmark S&P 500 index shed 1.1% to 6,752.81 points, paring back a loss of as much as 1.7%. The tech-heavy slid 1% to 22,535.10 points, eating into a decline of as much as 1.7%. The blue-chip was down 1.2% to 47,387.59 points, pulling back from a fall of as much as 2%.
The spotlight on Friday was on February’s U.S. nonfarm payrolls report.
In a negative surprise, the U.S. shed 92k jobs last month. Economists had been expecting an addition of 58k jobs. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4%.
The main averages on Wall Street fell in the prior session, dragged down by a climb in oil prices as fears continued to swirl around the choking off of supplies through narrow Strait of Hormuz waterway south of Iran.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost nearly 785 points, or 1.6%, putting the index on track for its second negative week in a row and its worst week since last October. The S&P 500 fell about 0.6%, while the NASDAQ Composite dipped nearly 0.3%.
Surging oil prices hit sentiment
Sentiment has been hit hard this week as the conflict in the Middle East has seen U.S. crude futures spiking by almost 21%, with the fighting spreading to other parts of the Middle East and Persian Gulf, after the U.S. and Israel launched joint strikes against Iran, threatening oil flows out of the major producing region.
The surge in oil prices added to inflation worries, with average gasoline costs in the U.S. having jumped by 27 cents following the start of the assault to $3.25 per gallon, according to Reuters, citing data from travel group AAA.
Higher energy prices tend to pressure corporate margins and consumer spending, while also complicating the Federal Reserve’s efforts to bring inflation under control.
The conflict has shown few signs of ending, in fact U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth stated late Thursday that “the amount of firepower over Iran and over Tehran is about to surge dramatically”, while Israel earlier Friday said it had started a “broad-scale” wave of attacks against infrastructure targets in Tehran,
U.S. President Donald Trump, speaking with Reuters in a telephone interview, also said the United States must have a role in deciding who will be the next leader of Iran after airstrikes killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last week, suggesting that the U.S. could be involved in events in this country for some time to come.
Crude set for hefty weekly gains
Oil prices surged higher Friday, on track for hefty weekly gains as escalating conflict in the Middle East raised concerns over global supply disruptions.
last climbed 4.7% to $89.38 a barrel and rose 6.3% to $86.11 a barrel.
In the previous four trading sessions since the war started, Brent has climbed 18% while WTI has gained 21%.
In a move to ease some supply concerns, the U.S. announced it would allow the sale of Russian oil to India for a period of 30 days.
However, this has hardly made a dent on the surging oil prices as traders have worried that the conflict will close the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman, through which roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply passes.
Gold set for weekly decline
Gold prices edged up, but were headed for weekly losses as a firm U.S. dollar and rising Treasury yields outweighed safe-haven demand.
At 04:35 ET (09:35 GMT), Spot gold traded 0.2% higher at $5,090.70 an ounce and gold futures gained 0.4% to $5,098.49/oz.
The precious metal was on track to slip more than 3% this week, with recent strength in the dollar and reduced interest-rate-cut expectations pressuring bullion.
Jobs data due
Market participants are now awaiting February’s U.S. nonfarm payrolls report due later in the session, which could offer fresh signals on the health of the labor market and the outlook for monetary policy.
Economists expect the U.S. economy to have added about 58,000 jobs in February, after a stronger-than-expected reading in the previous month, while the unemployment rate is projected to remain close to 4.3%.
The payrolls report is expected to play a key role in shaping expectations for interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year. A resilient labor market could give policymakers room to keep interest rates higher for longer.
Traders currently expect the Fed to ease policy later this year, although recent economic resilience and geopolitical risks have tempered expectations for aggressive rate cuts.
Marvell lifts revenue outlook
In the corporate sector, semiconductor Marvell Technology (NASDAQ:MRVL) lifted its full-year revenue outlook thanks to strong ongoing data center spending by AI hyperscalers.
Mega-cap companies like Amazon and Microsoft have made AI a central focus of their operations, and plan to shell out billions of dollars to rapidly build out the data centers that power and train the nascent technology.
Firms like Marvell, which designs and proves the internal plumbing that connects data between large-scale computer systems, have been key beneficiaries of the heavy spending.
Elsewhere, clothes retailer ’s fiscal 2026 guidance disappointed investors concerned about tariff headwinds, while retailer reported higher revenue and profit for the second quarter, while membership fees totaled $1.36 billion, reflecting a 13.6% gain year over year.