Futures for Canada's main stock index edged higher on Friday ahead of a three-day long weekend, supported by higher oil prices, but investors remained cautious amid trade war fears.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index ended Thursday’s session with a gain of 32.39 points to 16,409.16
The Canadian dollar edged up 0.01 cents at 76.8 cents U.S. early Friday
September futures inched up 0.2% Friday
Canadian markets are closed on Monday for Civic Holiday.
Enbridge's quarterly profit rose 16.5%, driven by tight leash on costs and strong growth in its oil transportation business.
Telus reported a marginal rise in quarterly profit on Friday, helped by higher average monthly bills in its wireless business.
RBC raised the target price on CRH Medical to $5.00 from $4.75
Canaccord Genuity raised the target price on Kinaxis to $100.00 from $96.00
RBC raised the target price on Pembina Pipeline to $54.00 from C$52.00
On things macroeconomic, Statistics Canada revealed that this country's merchandise trade deficit with the world narrowed from $2.7 billion in May to $626 million in June, the smallest deficit since January 2017. Exports increased 4.1%, while imports edged down 0.2%
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange fell 0.1 points Thursday to 700.93
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock index futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Friday as investors remained cautious ahead of the July jobs report.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials carried 25 points, or 0.1%, to 25,330
S&P 500 futures took on 2.75 points, or 0.1%, to 2,831.25, while futures for the NASDAQ composite added eight points, or 0.1%, to 7,393.75.
U.S. stocks finished higher on Thursday, shortly after Apple became the first U.S. publicly traded company in history to reach $1 trillion in market value. Apple's stock jumped almost 9% since the firm reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings earlier in the week.
The July non-farm payrolls report, unemployment rate and average hourly wages was set to be published at 8:30 a.m. ET. The jobs report was widely expected to give a reading on the health of the world's largest economy and offer possible clues regarding the pace of the Federal Reserve's future interest rate hikes.
Non-manufacturing data is expected to follow at around 10 a.m. ET.
Stock futures came off their morning highs after China said it will slap tariffs on $60 billion in U.S. goods. The action would be in response to increasingly protectionist policies taken by the U.S. on trade.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.1% while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index dipped 0.1%.
Oil prices slumped 23 cents to $68.23 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices stepped back $1.30 to $1,218.80 U.S. an ounce.
