The Toronto stock market appeared likely to move higher Friday morning, amid positive news on U.S. employment and stellar job creation in Canada.
The S&P/TSX composite index ended Thursday ahead 88.21 points to 12,447.68
The Canadian dollar picked up 0.43 cents Friday morning to 102.43 cents U.S.
Like their U.S. counterparts, more Canadians appeared to have found work in September. Figures released this morning by Statistics Canada show that the economy added 52,000 jobs, soundly beating the consensus estimate for a 10,000-jobseeker increase. The labour force rose 72,600 pushing unemployment rate up to 7.4%
What’s more, Statistics Canada says the value of building permits issued in August rose 7.9% to $7.3 billion after a 2.8% drop in July.
The agency says the August increase was due to a 25.2% rise in permits in the non-residential sector with a value of $3.2 billion, the highest level in almost four years.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange improved 15.63 points Thursday to 1,340.85
ON WALLSTREET
A better-than-expected jobs report sent U.S. stock futures soaring.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials hiked 36 points, or 0.3%, to 13,534, about 30 minutes before the opening bell. Futures for the S&P 500 took on 4.3 points, or 0.3%, to 1,460.10, and for the Nasdaq, futures gained 13 points, or 0.5%, to 2,834.50
Washington’s montly report showed employers added 114,000 jobs in September, better than the 110,000 economists had expected. And the American unemployment rate dropped to 7.8%, the first time it fell below 8% since 2009.
Later in the day, the Federal Reserve will release data on August consumer credit, which is expected to have expanded by $5 billion U.S., according to a survey of analysts by Briefing.com.
Shares of social gaming firm Zynga plunged 22% in premarket trading, following the company's making it known that it was lowering its 2012 guidance.
Facebook shares shed more than 2% before the opening bell, a day after company declared one billion subscribers use the social network
European stocks were higher in morning trading. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.5%, Germany’s DAX added 0.8% and France's CAC 40 gained 1.2%.
Asian markets posted gains for the day. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong rose 0.5%, while Japan's Nikkei 225 ended 0.4% higher.
Markets in Shanghai were closed this week for a holiday.
Oil prices dropped 62 cents to $91.09 U.S a barrel.
Gold prices fell $6.70 to $1,789.80 U.S. an ounce.
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