Futures for Canada's main stock index fell on Thursday, as fears of an escalating trade dispute between the United States and China hurt global stocks and oil prices fell for a third day on over-supply concerns.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index faded 57.25 points to end Wednesday at 16,376.77
The Canadian dollar faded 0.22 cents at 76.71 cents U.S. early Thursday
September futures faltered 0.6% Thursday
Canadian Natural Resources reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday, as production rose and the company earned more from per barrel of oil.
Bombardier Inc posted a 7% rise in its most-watched measure of earnings in the second quarter, helped by rising sales at its train-making unit.
BCE Inc reported an 8% drop in quarterly profit on Thursday, hit by higher expenses as the Canadian telecom company invested heavily to upgrade its network and expand its customer base.
RBC raised the target price on Dundee Precious Metals to $5.50 from $5.00
Desjardins revised its rating on Enercare Inc. to tender from buy, and raised its target price to $29.00 from $23.00
Canaccord Genuity raised the target price on Stars Group to $52.00 from $50.00
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 0.96 points to 706.91
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock index futures fell sharply on Thursday as trade worries intensified once again.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials 159 points, or 0.6%, to 25,130
S&P 500 futures dropped 15 points, or 0.5%, to 2,795.75, while futures for the NASDAQ composite collapsed 54.5 points, or 0.8%, to 7,222.50.
Earnings season continues to keep investors busy on Thursday, with a whole slew of companies due to report. DowDuPont and Aetna are among the companies that posted quarterly earnings. Both of their results topped analyst expectations.
Tesla shares surged more than 8% in the pre-market after CEO Elon Musk said the company would be profitable in the second half. However, Tesla posted a wider-than-expected loss for the previous quarter.
On Wednesday, the U.S. administration announced that President Donald Trump had spoken with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and asked him to consider increasing the proposed levies on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods up to 25%, from 10%.
Shares of big exporters Caterpillar and Boeing both fell more than 1% in the pre-market.
Jobless claims are due out at 8:30 a.m. ET, followed by factory orders at 10 a.m. ET.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 dropped 1% while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index skidded 2.2%.
Oil prices weakened 52 cents to $67.14 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices fell $4.30 to $1,223.30 U.S. an ounce.
