Futures on Canada's main stock index were little changed on Friday as investors turned cautious after the United States fired missiles at a Syrian government airbase.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 54.19 points to close Thursday at 15,697.18
The Canadian dollar nicked up 0.04 cents at 74.57 cents U.S. early Friday.
Hudson's Bay Co said it planned to invest around 400 million euros ($425 million U.S.) in Europe this year in a bid to grow its sales there by 20% over the next two years.
Goldman Sachs raised the rating on Bombardier to buy from neutral
CIBC raised the target price on Cascades Inc. to $19.00 from $17.00
BMO cut the target price on Cenovus Energy to $17.00 from $20.00
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported that our economy added only 19,000 jobs in March, moving the unemployment rate up 0.1 percentage points to 6.7%, as more people searched for work.
Elsewhere, Western University’s IVEY School of Management is due out (10 a.m. ET) with its Purchasing Managers’ Index for March.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange tallied 1.55 points Thursday to 821.85
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock index futures pointed to a flat open on Friday after President Donald Trump ordered missile strikes against a Syrian airfield.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials dropped 22 points, or 0.1%, to 20,583. Futures for the S&P 500 faded 3.75 points, or 0.2%, to 2,350. NASDAQ futures dipped 7.5 points, or 0.1%, to 5,415.25
Two U.S. destroyers based in the Eastern Mediterranean fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles, which the U.S. said was in retaliation to Bashar Assad's alleged use of chemical weapons against his own people, a charge denied by authorities in Damascus.
On the data front, non-farm payrolls added only 98,000 in March, compared to expectations of 180,000. In addition, wholesale trade data is set to come out at 10:00 a.m. ET and consumer credit due at 3:00 p.m. ET.
European markets were in reverse by noon on the continent, while the CSI 300 index poked up 0.1% in China, and the Nikkei 225 in Japan gained 0.4%.
Oil prices gained 49 cents to $52.19 U.S. per barrel.
Gold prices picked up $11.80 to $1,265.10 U.S. an ounce.
