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FINWIRES

Canada's Labor Market Shows "Some Signs of Stabilization" in March, But There Are Buts, says Desjardins

-- After a string of job losses to begin the year, Canada's labour market had "some signs of stabilization" in March, says Royce Mendes at Desjardins after the release of Friday's Labour Force Survey (LFS) showing the Canadian economy added back 14,000 jobs in March, leaving the unemployment rate unchanged at 6.7%.

But, he adds, all of the new positions were part-time, with full-time jobs "stable" after a "devastating" decline of 108,000 in February.

Mendes also notes while the year-over-year pace of average hourly earnings accelerated in March, the pickup was due to compositional effects as Statistics Canada said average hourly earnings rose just 3.6% when keeping the composition fixed, suggesting wages "aren't actually heating up."

The bank's tracking for Q1 gross domestic product remains around 1.5% to 2.0%, roughly in line with the Bank of Canada's January forecast.

Overall, Mendes adds, there's nothing in Friday's LFS to suggest that the economy is perking up. Despite upgrading its oil price forecasts, Desjardins continues to believe central bankers will remain on the sidelines for the remainder of this year, given persistent slack in the economy.

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Oil & Energy

US Biofuels Update: Soybean Oil Hits New Highs Amid Middle East Uncertainty

Biofuels feedstock futures closed higher on Tuesday, as soybean oil futures reached a new high amid uncertainty in the Middle East peace talks.The Chicago Board of Trade May soybean futures contract closed 0.75% higher at $11.74 per bushel, and the CBOT May soybean oil futures contract settled 3.60% higher at 72.14 cents per pound.On Monday, the May ethanol futures contract on the Nymex ended 0.26% higher at $1.90 per gallon.Energy markets were moderately higher as US and Iranian officials are reportedly set to meet in Pakistan on Tuesday.Rhett Montgomery, DTN analyst, said that soybeans led the way higher, primarily borrowing strength from the soybean oil market.Montgomery said that firm crude oil and diesel futures certainly played a role, along with continued trend-based buying as traders remain very bullish on soybean oil demand prospects in light of last month's bullish Environmental Protection Agency mandates."The state of negotiations in the Middle East and subsequent status of trade through the Strait of Hormuz continues to cast a large shadow over the soybean market (and markets in general)," Montgomery stated in a daily note.

Australia

Market Chatter: Meta Platforms to Track Employees' Mouse Movements, Keystrokes for AI Training

Meta Platforms (META) is installing software to track mouse movements, clicks and keystrokes of US employees in an effort to train its artificial intelligence models, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing an internal memo.The owner of Facebook and Instagram will use Model Capability Initiative, a tool that will run on work-related apps and websites and will also gather occasional snapshots of the content on employee's screens, according to the report.The collected data is intended to improve the tech giant's AI models, which currently struggle to replicate how humans engage with computers, particularly when selecting from dropdown menus and using keyboard shortcuts, the media outlet reported.Meta did not immediately respond to' request for comment.(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)Price: $674.18, Change: $+3.27, Percent Change: +0.49%

$META
Sectors

Sector Update: Financial

Financial stocks were declining in late Tuesday afternoon trading, with the NYSE Financial Index decreasing 0.6% and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) off 0.3%.The Philadelphia Housing Index was adding 0.8%, and the State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLRE) fell 1.6%.Bitcoin (BTC-USD) was decreasing 0.2% to $75,717, and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries rose 4.2 basis points to 4.29%.In corporate news, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) is working to secure approval from securities regulators in China to launch actively managed exchange-traded funds in the country for the first time, Bloomberg reported. JPMorgan shares were down 0.7%.

$JPM