Financial stocks sent Bay Street lower Friday as investors fretted over speculation interest rates may be on the rise, while Wall Street seemed unsure what to make of new employment data.

At market close, the S&P/TSX composite index was down 58.04 points or 0.64% to 9006.22, making for a decline for the first week of the new year of 2.7%. The TSX Venture Exchange climbed 18.62 points or 1.05% to 1784.90.

Volume on the S&P/TSX was $254.1 million shares.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average seesawed throughout much of the day before finishing down 18.92 points or 0.18% at 10603.96, for a decline of 1.7% on the week. The Nasdaq Composite Index dipped 1.39 points or 0.07% to 2088.61, for a drop of 4.1% on the week. The S&P 500 Index lost 1.70 points or 0.14% to 1186.19.

The Canadian dollar gained 0.22 of a cent to US81.19¢ as Statistics Canada reported that job creation total was about twice the number that had been expected and the unemployment rate eased to 7% from 7.3%. The jobless rate was its lowest level in over three years with the creation of 34,000 new jobs.

The strong performance had some analysts suggesting the economy is holding up well in the face of a strong C$ and that Ottawa may have to consider hiking interest rates in the spring.

That — and profit taking — may have spooked investors into selling financial stocks. The TSX financial index was down 0.87% with Bank of Nova Scotia (down 1.06% to $40.02) and Manulife Financial Corp. (off 1.65% to $54.76) among the more active traders in the sub-group.

Only health care and utilities stocks were in the black at the close Friday.

Energy stocks fell 0.46% as crude futures fell slightly while remaining above US$45 a barrel. Light sweet crude for February delivery dropped 13¢ to US$45.43 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices for heating oil were down less than a penny at US$1.2733 per gallon

Meanwhile, two large Canadian companies were active and helped contribute to the slide in Toronto. Alcan Inc. lost 10.5% to $50.20 after spinning off aluminum rolled products maker Novelis Inc. Novelis shares dropped 82¢ to $29.18 on its first official day of trading.

Shares in BCE Inc., one of Canada’s most widely held companies, topped $30 Friday for the first time in almost a year, before closing down 0.90% at $29.70. BCE has been in a range between $25 and $30 for the past two years, poking briefly as high as $30.28 late last January.

On Wall Street, the December payrolls report for the U.S. showed the creation of 157,000 new jobs, while the unemployment rate remained at 5.4%. The data caused a mixed reaction. The data was shy of Wall Street estimates, but still showed reasonable employment growth and eased concerns that the Fed will accelerate the pace of rate hikes.

Apple surged 7.3% to $69.25 on hopes that the maker of the popular iPod music device will report good earnings on Wednesday. The stock also benefited from First Albany Capital raising its earnings estimates for the company.

Meanwhile chipmaker Intel, a Dow component that trades on Nasdaq, rose 1.5% to $22.80, before its results on Tuesday.