Stock futures pointed to a higher opening in Toronto on Friday as jobs numbers rolled in on both sides of the border.
The S&P/TSX composite index skyrocketed 181.48 points, or 1.4%, to close Thursday at 12,774.50. Futures moved up 0.4% Friday morning.
The Canadian dollar was virtually unchanged at 72.73 cents U.S. early Friday.
Barclays raised the target price on Brookfield Renewable Energy to $37.00 from $35.00 with an equal-weight rating
BMO cut the target price on Westshore Terminals Investment to $13.00 from $15.00 with a market perform rating
Canaccord Genuity raised the rating on Wi-Lan to speculative buy from hold
On a crowded day for economic numbers, Statistics Canada reported this morning that our economy lost 5,700 jobs, in January, and the unemployment rate eked up to 7.2%.
Moreover, the agency said Canada's exports increased 3.9% in December and imports were up 1.6%. Consequently, Canada's merchandise trade deficit with the world narrowed from $1.6 billion in November to $585 million in December.
Later this morning, Western University is out with its IVEY Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for January
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 4.28 points Thursday afternoon at 504.48
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures are edging higher immediately following release of the latest employment figures, as are European markets.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials inched up four points to 16,332, futures for the S&P 500 slipped 0.25 points to 1,907.5. NASDAQ futures slid two points to 4,153.75.
LinkedIn's stock price nosedived by nearly 30% in extended trading after the company reported earnings on Thursday evening. The social networking site posted better-than-expected quarterly numbers, but issued weak earnings projections for the year ahead, leading investors to hit the sell button.
Shares in Symantec are rallying by about 9% pre-market as investors react to a better-than-expected quarterly report.
Tyson Foods, Moody's and Estee Lauder are reporting quarterly results ahead of the open.
European markets are making small gains in early trading, while Asian markets ended with mixed results.
The Nikkei in Tokyo was the biggest loser, dropping by 1.3%.
In the economic docket, U.S. unemployment rate fell to 4.9% in January, lowest level in eight years. But job creation stateside slowed to 151,000 jobs.
A range of economists expected 197,000 jobs were created last month, and that the unemployment rate would be unchanged at 5%.
Shares in Toshiba crashed 11% in Japan after the company warned investors to expect a full-year loss of around $6.1 billion U.S. The company had previously been expecting to lose money for the year, but the revised forecast is worse than expected.
Toshiba has been struggling to recover from an accounting scandal that resulted in inflated profits.
Oil prices gained 37 cents to $32.09 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices took on $3.81 to $1,159.40 U.S. an ounce.
