Stock futures pointed to a lower opening for Canada's main stock index on Monday as a bullish U.S. jobs report raised fears that the Federal Reserve could increase interest rates sooner than expected.
The S&P/TSX composite index plummeted 150.61 points, or 1%, to close Friday at 14,952.50. On the week, the loss amounted to 281 points, or 1.9%.
March futures inched lower 0.1% Monday.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.25 cents to 79.50 cents U.S. early Monday.
Concordia Healthcare Corp., which makes drugs for rare diseases and devices for diabetic patients, said it would buy some assets of privately held Covis Pharma Holdings SARL for $1.2 billion in cash.
A Canadian National Railway train carrying crude oil that derailed near the northern Ontario community of Gogama, near Timmins, early on Saturday is still on fire, the company said late on Sunday.
Goldman Sachs downgrades BlackBerry to sell, cuts target price to $11.00 from $12.00
Barclays raised the target price on Canadian Natural Resources to $41.00 from $39.00
CIBC raised the target price on GMP Capital Inc. to sector perform from underperform.
Economically speaking, Canadian housing starts fell much more sharply than expected in February, while January numbers were revised slightly lower, data showed on Monday.
A report from Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp showed the seasonally adjusted annualized rate of housing starts fell to 156,276 units last month from a downwardly revised 187,025 in January. That fell short of the 180,000 economists had expected.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange skidded 8.13 points Friday to 688.79
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures are shifting lower and European markets are all falling in early trading. Nearly all Asian markets ended with losses.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials eased one point to 17,860. Futures for the S&P 500 gained one point, or 0.1%, to 2,071.75, and futures for the NASDAQ gained four points, or 0.1%, to 4,409.
This is the sixth anniversary of the current bull market.
Apple is holding an event in San Francisco Monday afternoon where CEO Tim Cook is expected to reveal the last remaining details about the Apple Watch.
Wall Street will be watching the announcement closely, and trading in Apple shares could be more volatile than normal.
The European Central Bank begins printing €60 billion per month to boost the regional economy and lift inflation.
Euro-zone finance ministers meet again Monday to discuss Greece's future.
The heavily indebted country has proposed a number of measures to ensure it continues to receive loan money from its European partners for the next few months, but the government's proposals have faced criticism for falling short of expectations.
Japan's economy grew at a slower than expected pace in the fourth quarter.
Growth was revised lower to 1.5%, down from an earlier estimate of 2.2%.
Oil prices forged ahead 13 cents to $49.74 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices added $8.80 to $1,173.10 U.S. an ounce.
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