The employment picture deteriorated more than expected in April, with unemployment jumping to 6.9% - the highest level since November.

Under the hood, the impact of U.S. tariffs is starting to bleed through - with sizeable job loss across manufacturing and trade. The public sector gains were largely driven by temporary election-related work - we expect a reversal here come May.

The length of the average jobless stint continued its march higher to over 22 weeks, driven by the younger demographic (15-24) which sits at 14.1% unemployment.

Bottom line: the labour market remains ugly and there’s no near-term fix. With 2.4M Canadian workers tied to U.S. exports and a widening unemployment gap with our neighbours south of the border, Carney isn’t entering these negotiations from a position of strength.

Algonquin Power (AQN) shares closed nearly 10% higher on Friday after posting an earnings beat - that’s ~30% higher since we pitched it to subscribers in February.

While many have lazily chalked up the jump in price to Q1 results, the reality is that it ran on the back of this statement from the conference call:

If you don’t get why, improve your understanding of how markets think by reading our follow-up below. Check it out!

The finish line is in sight for this Q1 earnings season which always comes way, way too soon after Q4 wraps up.

Flagging the ATCO sale here, as it’s a name we’ve been talking about as a beneficiary of affordable (modular) housing. Adam is the head of the structures & logistics group so we don’t love to see him shed $5M in stock here, though we’d note a similar transaction pattern last year.

Air Canada (AC) was flying on its Q1 results, where it posted a smaller loss than expected and announced a new $500M buyback program. The company plans to chew through it by the end of June, in addition to the ~$800M they’ve bought back since November. We also got an incrementally negative update on Canada → U.S. travel.

Docebo (DCBO) fell nearly 20% on its Q1 print, driven by a negative guidance revision to 9-10% top-line growth (below expectations) and the departure of two members of the executive team (CRO and CPO).

Nothing material on the economic slate for today… enjoy the breather.