Canadian stocks see biggest weekly gain since 2009

Bloomberg

Canada shares rose, capping the biggest one-week advance since January 2009 despite a record plunge in employment in the country and another surge in jobless claims in the US.
Investors focused instead on another dose of economic support south of the border.
The S&P/TSX Composite index climbed 1.7%, bringing the weekly gain to 9.5%, the biggest since January, 2009, even as the Easter holiday cut it one day short. Materials, health care and consumer discretionaries were the best performing sectors.
The rally needs to be closely monitored as there are signs another leg down is possible, according to Mark Stacey, co-chief investment officer at AGF Investments Inc. “If or when a new wave of “bad news” hits, market rebound might prove fragile,” he said in a blog post.
The Federal Reserve announced another series of steps that will provide as much as $2.3 trillion in additional aid. The measures will see the Fed give help to small and mid-sized businesses as well as state and local governments. Oil fell, reversing earlier gains, as investors saw an OPEC+ supply-curb proposal as insufficient to offset estimates for demand destruction from the Covid-19 outbreak.
Canada’s labour market sustained a historic drubbing in March due to coronavirus pandemic. Employment plunged by 1.01 million from the prior month, the largest decline in records dating back to 1976, Statistics Canada said. However, loonie shrugged off the report. The Canadian dollar climbed 0.3% to C$1.3969 per US dollar, while the 10-year government bond yield fell about 6 basis points to 0.763%.
Gold and silver prices rallied as the haven asset continued to be in demand, with investors weighing the economic fallout from the coronavirus and fresh help from governments. The rally in prices helped miners of the precious metals on Friday. Spot gold rose 2.1%, to $1,681.50 per ounce.
Meanwhile, investors can take solace in the fact that this volatile market may have created the opportunity to re-deploy cash to diversify their portfolio, Stacey said.
“The recent market panic has proven that there is never a bad time to better diversify a portfolio, and now might prove to be a very good one,” he said.