Futures tracking Canada's main stock index started the month on a dour note on Thursday as crude oil and gold prices extended their recent falls amid concerns of a faster-than-expected decline in economic growth.
The TSX declined 182.09 points to finish Wednesday at 19,330.81
Futures plunged 0.6% Thursday.
Rio Tinto on Thursday reached an in-principle agreement to buy the rest of Turquoise Hill Resources for $3.3 billion.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported building permits declined 6.6% in July to $11.2 billion, mainly due to the residential sector, which fell 8.6% to $7.6 billion. The non-residential sector also dropped slightly by 2.1%.
The S&P Global Canada Manufacturing PMI for August was due at 9:30 a.m. EDT.
Meanwhile, federal Conservatives next month look set to embrace as leader Pierre Poilievre, a career politician who has promised to fire the central bank governor and promoted bitcoin as an inflation hedge.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange regained 3.11 points Wednesday to 638.44.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures fell Thursday, the first day of September, as traders continued to fret over the potential for higher Federal Reserve rates.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials dumped 168 points, or 0.6%, early Thursday to 31,364.
Futures for the S&P 500 slid 24.75 points, or 0.6%, to 3,931.75
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite lost 106.5 points, or 0.9%, to 12,178.75.
Nvidia shares contributed to the losses, falling more than 5% after the chipmaker said the U.S. government is restricting some sales in China.
Those moves follow four straight days of losses in the major averages. On Wednesday, the final day of August, the Dow slid nearly 0.9%. The S&P 500 lost about 0.8%, and the NASDAQ Composite fell roughly 0.6%.
The Dow closed the month down about 4.1%, while the S&P dropped 4.2% and the NASDAQ recorded a loss of 4.6%.
Investors are debating whether stocks will again challenge the June lows in September, a historically poor month for markets, after weighing recent hawkish comments from Fed officials who show no signs of easing up on interest rate hikes.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index lost 1.5% Thursday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index gave up 1.8%.
Oil prices let go of $2.12 to $87.43 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gave up $13.50 to $1,712.70 U.S. an ounce.
