Futures for stocks on Bay Street gained on Monday, helped by higher Brent crude oil prices, with investors pinning hopes on a revival in Chinese activity to boost global economic growth.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index subsided 25.65 points to close Friday and the week at 15,596.75. Even so, the index gained 122.65 points, or 0.79%, over the week.
September futures heightened 1.2% Monday.
Britain's Cineworld said it plans to make a counter-claim against Cineplex for damages and losses following a failed acquisition.
Evercore ISI cut the target price on Precision Drilling to $1.00 from $1.25
Evercore also cut the target price on Ensign Energy Services to $0.50 from $1.00
The Canadian dollar eked up 0.06 cents to 73.85 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange collected 5.51 points Friday to 633.02; on the week, the index enjoyed a jump of 65.82 points, or 11.6%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures traded sharply higher early Monday as Wall Street tried to build on the momentum from last week’s solid performance and shake off a continued rise in coronavirus cases.
Futures for Dow Jones Industrials jumped 376 points, or 1.3%, early Monday, to 26,095.
Futures for the S&P 500 picked up 34 points, or 1.1%, to 3,163.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite Index vaulted 122 points, or 1.2%, to 10,477.74.
Stocks closely tied to an economic reopening gained in pre-market trading Monday. Carnival Corp, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line all jumped more than 3%. American Airlines and Delta Air Lines also gained more than 3%. Shares of retailer Gap were higher as well.
Deal making also boosted sentiment. Warren Buffett made his first major deal amid the market turmoil this year, with Berkshire Hathaway buying the natural gas transmission and storage assets from Dominion Energy for about $10 billion including debt.
Dominion Energy added 5% in pre-market trading. Uber shares gained after it said it was buying food-delivery app Postmates in an all-stock deal worth $2.65 billion.
The World Health Organization said Saturday that more than 200,000 coronavirus cases were confirmed over a 24-hour span, a record. At a regional level, the biggest spike was seen in the Americas, where nearly 130,000 new cases were confirmed.
In the U.S., Florida and Texas reported daily record spikes of 11,445 and 8,258, respectively, on Saturday. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said the outbreak is on pace to overwhelm the city’s hospitals in two weeks. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez told the media this weekend: “It’s clear that the growth is exponential at this point.”
Data compiled by Johns Hopkins University showed that more than 45,000 new cases were confirmed across the U.S. on Saturday.
Overseas, in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 barged ahead 1.8% Monday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index popped 3.8%.
Oil prices dipped six cents at $40.59 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dropped 60 cents to $1,789.40.
