Futures tracking Canada's main stock index rose on Thursday, mirroring moves on Wall Street, after unexpectedly strong U.S. jobs data signaled a stable labor market.
The TSX dipped 2.64 points to close Wednesday at 33,254.19.
March futures were better 0.3% Thursday.
Manulife Financial reported a lower fourth-quarter profit, while its peer Sun Life reported a jump in profit for the same quarter.
The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday narrowly backed a measure disapproving of Trump's tariffs on Canada, although it is unlikely to garner enough support in Congress to overcome an expected Trump veto.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 3.52 points Wednesday to 1,035.72.
ON WALLSTREET
Futures posted modest gains Thursday morning the day after a solid jobs report drew mixed emotions and traders took in more earnings news from big companies.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials hiked 140 points, or 0.3%, to 50.345
Futures for the S&P 500 index surged 23.5 points, or 0.3% to 6,984.
Futures for the NASDAQ grabbed 82 points, or 0.3%, to 25,370.50.
Cisco Systems slid 8% in premarket trading after the maker of networking hardware such as switches and routers issued disappointing guidance for the current quarter. McDonald’s turned positive after an earnings beat.
Those moves come after a downbeat trading day on Wall Street, with the 30-stock Dow off by more than 66 points, or 0.1%, while the NASDAQ Composite dipped about 0.2%. The S&P 500 ended the day just a tick lower.
Stocks ended the session lower after earlier rallying off the back of a strong jobs report. The January nonfarm payrolls report showed sharp jobs growth of 130,000 last month, far above what economists were expecting, and much higher than the downwardly revised December gain.
The unemployment rate ticked lower to 4.3% from 4.4%.
The report was a relief for investors who worried it would show a drop-off in the labor market, following a raft of recent data that’s indicated slowing growth in a “no hire, no fire” environment.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 declined 10 points, coming back from a holiday on Wednesday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng advanced 0.9%,
Oil prices faded six cents to $64.57 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices eased $12.60 to $5,0.85.90 U.S an ounce.
