Markets in Canada’s biggest centre were set for a higher start on Thursday, tracking gains in oil prices following an unexpected fall in U.S. gasoline inventories.
The S&P/TSX Composite muscled higher 55.24 points to close Wednesday at 15,554.04, with March futures progressing 0.3% early Thursday
The Canadian dollar gained 0.21 cents to 76.28 cents U.S. early Thursday.
Manulife Financial met its target to achieve earnings of $4 billion in 2016, reporting results which beat market expectations, benefiting from a strong performance in Asia.
Telus Corp, one of Canada's three big telecom providers, reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly profit as operating expenses rose and it spent more to attract wireless customers.
Thomson Reuters reported a higher quarterly net profit, reflecting a gain on the sale of a business, and said it expected revenue to grow this year at a low single-digit-percentage rate.
Goldman Sachs raised the target price on Detour Gold to $24.00 from $22.00
CIBC raised the price target on Northland Power to $27.00 from $25.75
CIBC raised the price target on TransCanada Corp. to $68.00 from $66.00
On the economic front, Statistics Canada’s new house pricing index edged up 0.1% in December compared with the previous month, largely reflecting price increases in Ontario and Alberta.
The agency says prices have risen at the national level for 21 months.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange lost 1.61 points Wednesday to 825.41
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Thursday as traders eyed a big day of earnings, data and Federal Reserve speakers.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials gained 29 points, or 0.1%, to 20.031. Futures for the S&P 500 picked up 2.75 points, or 0.1%, to 2,293. NASDAQ futures gained four points, or 0.1%, at 5,195.25.
On the earnings front Coca-Cola, Twitter, Kellogg and Viacom are among companies that reported before the bell. Activision Blizzard, Expedia, News Corp., Western Union and Yelp are due to report after the bell
On the data front, initial jobless claims totaled 234,000, down 12,000, with wholesale trade set to come out at 10 a.m. ET.
European markets were higher by noon, while the Nikkei 225 in Japan faltered 0.5%, and the Shanghai CSI 300 added 0.4%
Oil prices added 59 cents to $52.93 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices hiked $1.70 to $1,241.20 U.S. an ounce.
