Canada stock futures were higher on Friday ahead of domestic housing starts and employment data as well as the closely watched U.S. payrolls figures.
The S&P/TSX composite index moved higher 64.93 points to close Thursday at 15,088.82, with June futures up 0.3% Friday.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.17 cents to 82.62 U.S. early Friday.
On the economic slate, Friday was jobs day on both sides of the border, and in Canada, employment edged down in April by 20,000, as gains in full-time work were more than offset by losses in part time. Statistics Canada added the unemployment rate held steady at 6.8% for the third consecutive month.
The Canadian economy was expected to have shed 5,000 jobs in April, with the unemployment rate forecast to have risen to 6.9%.
Moreover, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation was to report this morning on housing starts in Canada for April.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange moved lower 1.46 points to 685.54
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures are inching higher.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials gained 38 points, or 0.2%, to 17,927. Futures for the S&P 500 picked up 4.25 points, or 0.2%, to 2,088.60, and futures for the NASDAQ added 9.75 points, or 0.2%, to 4,412.25
Shares in Salesforce.com are slipping by about 3% pre-market. The stock surged earlier this week based on a report from Bloomberg saying Microsoft was considering a bid for the company.
Shares in Nokia are jumping by 3% in Finland after the New York Times reported that Uber submitted a multibillion-dollar bid to buy the company's mapping business.
Shares in AOL could be on the move after the company reports its latest earnings results ahead of the open.
Payrolls rebounded in April following an even bigger setback a month earlier than previously estimated, a sign companies are confident the U.S. economy will reboot after stagnating early this year. The unemployment rate dropped to 5.4%.
The 223,000 net increase in employment followed an 85,000 gain in March that was the smallest since June 2012, figures from the U.S. Labor Department showed Friday in Washington. The jobless rate fell to the lowest since May 2008 as more Americans entered the labour force and found work.
U.K. investors are waking up Friday to a surprise election win for Prime Minister David Cameron, and they're cheering the results.
London's benchmark index, the FTSE 100, rallied by 2% when markets opened.
Chinese investors have been shaken from their state of prolonged euphoria this week as major stock markets have stumbled.
The main Chinese indexes closed the day with gains. But if you look at the week as a whole, the benchmark Shanghai Composite index is down by about 5%. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong also dipped by 2% this week.
Oil prices added 59 cents to $59.53 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices gained $3.70 to $1,185.90 U.S. an ounce.
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