Futures Lower Friday

Stock futures pointed to a lower opening for Canada's main stock index on Friday as investors digested monthly jobs data, a week after a similar U.S. report sparked a week-long selloff.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index took a steep drop of 264.97 points, or 1.7%, to close Thursday at 15,065.61

The Canadian dollar fell 0.23 cents to 79.19 cents U.S. Friday morning.

March futures dipped 0.3% Friday.

Canadian police arrested two people on Thursday at a protest over Kinder Morgan Canada’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion after the protesters began blocking highway traffic and equipment.

Barclays raised the price target on Canada Goose Holdings to $50.00 from $49.00

Barclays raised the price target on MEG Energy to $8.00 from $7.00

RBC raised the price target on Suncor Energy to $52.00 from $49.00

On the economic docket, Statistics Canada reported the economy lost 88,000 jobs in January, bumping the unemployment rate up 0.1 percentage points to 5.9%.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange slumbered 11.5 points, or 1.4%, to conclude trading Thursday at 819.19

ON WALLSTREET

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open Friday, a day after both the Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 fell into correction territory.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials hiked 265.54 points, or 1.1%, to 24,083

S&P 500 futures jumped 30.8 points, or 1.2%, to 2,610, while futures on the NASDAQ Composite spiked 67.9 points, or 1.1%, at 6,376.50

The movements seen in U.S. futures come on the back of a sharply lower finish to Thursday's trading.

The Dow dropped 1,032 points Thursday, its second drop of that magnitude this week. As of Thursday's close, the Dow was on track to post its largest weekly decline since October 2008.

E-commerce giant Amazon wasn't helping things. The company is gearing up to launch a delivery service for businesses, pitting Jeff Bezos's logistical prowess against carriers like FedEx and UPS, the Wall Street Journal reported early in the day.

Shares of UPS and FedEx were both down more than 4% in pre-market trading.

Other stocks that have struggled this week include 3M, American Express and Exxon Mobil, down more than 10% as oil prices continue to slide.

Progress on a government spending bill also made headlines on the week's final day of trading. President Donald Trump signed a massive spending deal into law after both houses of Congress approved the bill early Friday morning.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 collapsed 2.3%, and in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index stumbled 3.1%.

Oil prices dropped 77 cents to $60.38 U.S. per barrel.

Gold prices lost $2.90 to $1,316.10 U.S. an ounce.