Futures Ease Downward on Growth Woes

Futures for Canada's main stock index edged lower on Thursday after world equity markets slipped amid global growth worries.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 83.27 points to end Wednesday at 16,586.13

The Canadian dollar fell 0.07 cents to 74.04 cents U.S. early Thursday

June futures demurred 0.06% Thursday.

Bombardier cut its full-year profit and revenue forecast, as delays in some large projects hit its dominant transportation unit that makes rail cars.

JP Morgan raised the target price on Cenovus Energy to $16.00 from $15.00

Credit Suisse raised the price target on Hydro One to $20.00 from $19.00

CIBC raised the price target on TFI International to $47.00 from $44.00

On the economic board, Statistics Canada says average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees were $1,007 in February, little changed from the previous month. Compared with 12 months earlier, earnings grew by 1.1%

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 0.02 points Wednesday to 608.46

ON WALLSTREET

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was headed for a big drop on Thursday after a disappointing quarterly report from 3M.

Futures for the 30-stock index dropped 71 points, or 0.3%, to 26,470.

Futures for the S&P 500 eked up 3.75 points, or 0.1%, at 2,934.50

NASDAQ futures regained 30.75 points, or 0.4%, to 7,878.50, after strong Facebook results. Shares of the social media giant jumped 8.6% in the pre-market.

Shares of 3M dropped more than 9% after the company reported earnings that were much lower than analysts had expected. The company also slashed its full-year outlook and announced plans to cut 2,000 jobs worldwide.

More than 170 S&P 500 companies have reported quarterly results so far. Of those companies, 78% have posted better-than-expected earnings.

In terms of data, there will be jobless claims and durable goods at 8:30 a.m. ET and housing vacancies due at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.5% Tuesday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index doffed 0.9%.

Oil prices took on 17 cents to $66.06 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices lost a dollar to $1,278.40 U.S. an ounce.

Related Stories