Futures for Canada’s stock markets were flat on Friday ahead of the country's inflation data, even as oil slipped nearly 1%.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index held onto gains of 19.93 points to end trading Thursday at 15,264.64
September futures were down 0.01% early Friday.
The Canadian dollar was fairly static at 79.4 cents U.S. early Friday
Husky Energy Inc reported a smaller loss on Friday, helped partly by higher oil prices and a rise in production.
Encana Corp on Friday posted a quarterly profit compared with a loss a year earlier, when it took impairment and hedging charges of about $641 million.
Hudson's Bay Co is unlikely to take its vast real estate holdings public any time soon, the head of RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust, a partner in a venture that holds some of those assets, said on Thursday.
Desjardins cut the rating on Dragonwave Inc. to sell from hold
Eight Capital raises the rating Dream Global REIT to buy from neutral
Barclays raised the target price on Rogers Communications to $70.00 from $63.00
On matters economic, Statistics Canada reported inflation in this country rose 1.0% on a year-over-year basis in June, following a 1.3% increase in May. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the Consumer Price Index was unchanged in June, after being down 0.2% in May.
Also, the agency said retail sales hiked for the third consecutive month, rising 0.6% to $48.9 billion in May. StatsCan said sales were up in five of 11 sub-sectors, representing 56% of total retail trade.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slumped 1.42 points Thursday to 764.53.
ON WALLSTREET
Stock index futures stateside pointed to a relatively flat open on Friday, as investors continued to wade through another selection of corporate earnings.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials fell 25 points, or 0.1%, to 21,556. Futures for the S&P 500 faded 0.75 points to 2,470.50. NASDAQ futures slid 15.5 points, or 0.3%, to 5,909.75
In earnings news, General Electric, Honeywell, and SunTrust are some of the major names that reported before the bell, among others.
Politics continues to rumble on in the background, with investors keeping an eye on news coming out of Washington D.C., in relation to the state of U.S. health care and the Russia-linked scandal.
No major data is set to come out on Friday.
European markets were straddling the breakeven line approaching noon Friday, while the Nikkei 225 in Japan staggered 0.2%, while Shanghai’s CSI 300 advanced 0.6%.
Oil prices fell 37 cents to $46.55 U.S. per barrel.
Gold prices added $4.20 to $1,249.70 U.S. an ounce.
