Futures for Canada's main stock index remained little changed on Thursday, despite surging commodity prices, as investors awaited U.S. economic data, following the Bank of Canada's decision to hold policy rates the previous day.
The TSX Composite staggered 8.81 points to end Wednesday at 21,025.78.
March futures gained 0.1% Thursday.
The Canadian dollar inched higher 0.08 cents to 74.01 cents U.S.
Parkland Corporation said on Wednesday that it had temporarily shut down processing operations at its Burnaby refinery in British Columbia after encountering an issue with a processing unit.
Blackberry fell 1.7% in pre-market trading after it announced the pricing of private offering of convertible senior notes.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported the number of employees receiving pay and benefits from their employer—measured as "payroll employment" in the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours—decreased by 88,300 (-0.5%) in November, following a decline of 24,000 (-0.1%) in October.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slid 1.19 points to close Wednesday at 550.17.
ON WALLSTREET
S&P 500 futures were little changed on Thursday morning as investors readied for the fourth-quarter gross domestic product report and pored through the latest earnings reports.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials index ducked 12 points to 37,967.
Futures for the S&P 500 eked up 3.25 points, or 0.1%, at 4,901.25.
Futures for the NASDAQ took on 29 points, or 0.1%, to 17,650.
Tesla slumped nearly 9% in the premarket after the electric vehicle maker posted disappointing fourth-quarter results and warned of lower vehicle volume growth for 2024. Shares of IBM soared more than 6% after the technology company posted adjusted earnings and revenue that beat analysts’ predictions.
Multiple airline stocks moved in premarket trading in response to their respective financial releases. American gained more than 4%, while Southwest and Alaska advanced more than 1%.
More than 16% of S&P 500 companies that have reported financials this earnings season, according to FactSet. About seven out of every 10 of those have surpassed Wall Street expectations, FactSet data shows.
The U.S. economy expanded by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, easily surpassing expectations. Economists polled by Dow Jones had forecast the economy grew by 2% in the fourth quarter.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 eked up 10 points Thursday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index soared 2%.
Oil prices gained 90 cents to $75.99 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slid $4.90 to $2,011.10 U.S. an ounce.
