Stock futures pointed to a higher opening for Canada's main stock index as oil prices rose on a further drop in U.S. crude inventories
The S&P/TSX Composite shed 63.07 points to end Wednesday at 14,807.56
The Canadian dollar squeezed higher 0.03 cents to 74.77 cents U.S. early Thursday.
Barrick Gold reported a bigger quarterly profit on Wednesday, reflecting higher gold prices and lower costs, while cutting its 2016 production costs and lifting its output.
Goldcorp reported a quarterly profit that met market expectations but its production fell due to continued lower gold grades, throughput and recoveries at its flagship Penasquito mine in Mexico.
Husky Energy reported a bigger-than-expected quarterly loss as weak crude oil prices continued to eat into profits. Husky recorded nearly $1.5 billion in gains related to asset sales, helping the company post a quarterly profit of $1.39 billion, compared with a year-ago loss of $4.09 billion.
MEG Energy reported a net loss of $109 million, compared with a loss of $428 million, or $1.90 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 8% to $497 million.
Potash Corp of Saskatchewan reported a 25.7% drop in quarterly sales, as potash prices remained weak. The company also cut the upper end of its full-year earnings forecast to 40 cents-45 cents per share from 40 cents-55 cents per share.
Suncor Energy reported a betterthan-expected third-quarter profit on Wednesday thanks to strong upstream production, lower operating costs and record crude throughput at its refineries. The company reported net earnings of $392 million, or 24 cents per share.
Teck Resources reported net profit attributable to shareholders was $234 million, or 40 cents per share, for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with a loss of $2.15 billion, or $3.73 per share, a year earlier. The revenue rose 9.7% to $2.31 billion.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees were $960 in August, up 0.8% from the previous month. Compared with 12 months earlier, weekly earnings increased 1.6%, partly as a result of relatively low earnings in August 2015.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange plummeted 10.29 points, or 1.3%, to close Wednesday at 775.39
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock traders aren’t quite sure which way to go Thursday, but are moving tentatively in an upward direction.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials added 41 points, or 0.2%, to 18,169, while futures for the S&P 500 gained 7.4 points, or 0.4%, to 2,141.50. NASDAQ futures picked up 21.5 points, or 0.4%, at 4,875.25
Apple continues to be front and centre in the news as it is expected to unveil a new, upgraded Mac computer on Thursday at 1 p.m. ET.
Apple shares were punished Wednesday after the company reported another quarterly sales decline.
Investors will be hoping the new Mac will be a big moneymaker, especially since customers are losing interest in the Apple Watch.
Tesla stock is revving higher after the electric car maker posted a surprise profit of $22 million U.S. in the third quarter. That's just the second time it's been in the black. Its only other quarterly profit came more than three years ago.
Groupon, however, reported late on Wednesday that it was buying rival LivingSocial, and it also reported quarterly results. The double announcement failed to impress Wall Street and shares look set to get pummeled once the opening bell rings in New York.
Lots of big names are reporting quarterly numbers on Thursday, including Blackstone, Twitter, ConocoPhillips, Ford, UPS, Deutsche Bank and Volkswagen
European markets are uncertain as well, but Asian markets were firmly in the red Thursday.
Oil prices eked up 0.03 cents to $49.21 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices moved ahead $5.30 to $1,271.90 U.S. an ounce.
