Futures for Canada's main stock index slipped on Friday, as a cautious mood prevailed in global markets ahead of U.S. and domestic jobs reports that could influence expectations on further monetary policy tightening.
The S&P/TSX Composite weakened 488.78 points, or 2.3%, to close a disastrous Thursday session at 20,696.17.
June futures were down 0.3% Friday
The Canadian dollar slipped 0.09 cents to 77.94 cents U.S.
Enbridge reported a 4.3% rise in first-quarter profit, as a surge in demand for oil and gas boosted the pipeline operator's shipment volumes.
National Bank of Canada cut the rating on AutoCanada to sector perform from outperform
Vertical Research raised the rating on Bombardier to buy from hold
JP Morgan raised the target price on BCE to $70.00 from $68.00
Friday is jobs day on both sides of the border, and here, Statistics Canada told us employment was little changed in April after two consecutive months of growth. The unemployment rate edged down 0.1 percentage points to 5.2%.
Later this morning (about 10 a.m. EDT) Western University’s IVEY School of Business releases its Purchasing Managers Index for April.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange restrengthened 12.73 points, or 1.6%, Wednesday to 807.38.
ON WALLSTREET
Stock futures were lower in early morning trading Friday after the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted its worst day since 2020.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials pointed lower 118 points, or 0.4%, to 32,792.
Futures for the S&P 500 dipped 18.25 points, or 0.5%, to 4,125.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite Index fell 70.25 points, or 0.6%, to 12,787.75.
The moves came after stocks sold off sharply on Thursday’s. The Dow lost more than 1,000 points, and the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite fell nearly 5%. Both indexes notched their worst single-day drops since 2020. The S&P 500 fell 3.6%, its second-worst day of the year.
On the earnings front, shares of Under Armour dropped more than 15% in premarket trading after the apparel company missed estimates on the top and bottom lines. Live Nation Entertainment fell 4% after revenue came in softer than expected for the first quarter.
DoorDash and Block, however, were moving higher despite missing key estimates in their reports.
Thursday’s losses erased Wednesday’s big post-Federal Reserve meeting rally. Fed Chair Jerome Powell ruled out the prospect of larger rate hikes on Wednesday, sending the S&P 500 and the Dow to their best daily gains since 2020.
Despite Thursday’s wipeout, the S&P 500 is on pace to close the week up 0.4%. The Dow is on track to finish the week marginally higher, while the NASDAQ is lower by 0.1% this week so far.
Investors are looking ahead to the April jobs report, set for release Friday morning. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect employers added 400,000 jobs to nonfarm payrolls, down slightly from 431,000 in March. The unemployment rate is expected to fall to 3.5% in April, down from 3.6% in March, according to Dow Jones.
Markets in Japan returned from holiday with a gain of 0.7% Friday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index stumbled 3.8%.
Oil prices gained $1.08 to $109.34 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices jumped $9.40 to $1,885.10 U.S.
