Daily Wrap-Up: TSX flat, gold gains as focus turns to Fed meeting

TSX flat, gold gains as focus turns to Fed meeting... TD shares slip as CBC reports employees’ pressure to sell... Job growth beat expectations...

Daily Wrap-Up: TSX flat, gold gains as focus turns to Fed meeting
Steve Randall
TSX flat, gold gains as focus turns to Fed meeting
Strong US jobs data released Friday gave new credence to the almost-certainty that the Fed will increase interest rates next week. Meanwhile strong Canadian jobs data boosted sentiment on Bay Street.

Commodities were still pressured though with oil losing ground amid ongoing concern about the global glut and gold essentially flat ahead of the Fed.

The main TSX index closed flat despite gains for all ten sectors; materials and healthcare posting the largest increases.

Wall Street gained along with most European and Asian bourses.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 9.84 (0.06 per cent)
The Dow Jones closed up 44.79 (0.21 per cent)
Oil is trending lower (Brent $51.35, WTI $48.43 at 4.25pm)
Gold is trending higher (1204.20 at 4.25pm)
The loonie is valued at U$0.7432

TD shares slip as CBC reports employees’ pressure to sell
A second story about Toronto Dominion Bank by CBC News has led to a 6 per cent slide in the bank’s shares.

The report on Go Public claims that employees are put under pressure to sell products that may not be appropriate for customers and admit that they have broken the law in their quest to sell.

TD issued a statement saying that the report does not reflect how it does business and it doesn’t “recognize it from our own perspective, experience or assessments."

Job growth beat expectations
There were 15,300 more jobs in February with the unemployment rate down to 6.6 per cent.

Statistics Canada reported that the stronger-then-expected gains for the Canadian labour market was driven by full-time roles which rose by 105,000 as part-time roles declined 90,000.

Women aged 25-54 and those in the western provinces saw most of the gains.

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