Stock futures pointed to a modestly higher opening for Canada's main stock index on Friday
The S&P/TSX composite index fell 77.43 points to end Thursday at 14,778.77, with December futures up 0.03%.
The Canadian dollar faded 0.09 cents to 87.87 cents U.S. early Friday.
Blackberry Ltd Chief Executive John Chen sees Asia as key to reviving the loss-making smartphone maker's fortunes, but expanding in the region's biggest market, China, where security data concerns are rife, is currently not a priority.
The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives prepared to vote to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline, which will help transport oil from Canada to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, but a companion bill in the Senate may lack votes to pass next week.
Raymond James raised the price target on CGI Group to $49 from $46, with an outperform rating.
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada reported that manufacturing sales increased 2.1% in September to $53.0 billion, the eighth gain in nine months.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 6.50 points Thursday to 764.89.
ON WALLSTREET
Futures in New York are somewhat flat as the month approaches the mid-point.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials were up but seven points to 17,603. Futures for the S&P 500 picked up one point to 2,035, and futures for the NASDAQ inched up 2.25 points, or 0.1%, to 4,207.25.
If the Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 manage to eke out more gains Friday, they'll close the weak at record-setting levels.
Shares in Twitter are down 1% pre-market, following a fall of nearly 6% Thursday, after Standard & Poor's rated the company's debt as 'junk.'
S&P's BB minus rating applies to companies where the business looks stable in the near-term, "but faces major ongoing uncertainties to adverse business, financial and economic conditions."
Virgin America shares will begin trading Friday on the NASDAQ exchange under the ticker symbol "VA." The upstart airline formed by billionaire Sir Richard Branson priced its initial public offering Thursday at $23 a share, raising over $300 million U.S.
Sister company Virgin Money went public on the London stock exchange earlier this week, valuing the company at £1.25 billion ($2 billion U.S). Full trading in the shares will begin next week.
The euro-zone economy grew by a meager 0.2% in the third quarter, but the numbers were better than expected. Germany dodged a recession with quarter-on-quarter growth of 0.1%, while France grew by 0.3%.
Stronger household consumption and exports helped Germany, but business investment in both countries fell again. Italy's economy continued to contract.
European markets were mostly weaker in early trading.
Meanwhile, the Nikkei in Japan keeps powering higher and smashing previous records. It hasn't been at this level in seven years. Markets have been pushing forward with the help of an aggressive stimulus program from the Japanese central bank
Oil prices fell $2.71 to $74.47 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices slid $13.10 to $1,148.40 U.S. an ounce.
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