Stock futures pointed to a higher start for markets in Toronto on Friday, on the back of improvements in oil prices as ministers of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries ministers met in Vienna
The S&P/TSX composite index descended 139.15 point, or 1%, to close Thursday at 13,324.67. Friday futures inched up 0.2%.
The Canadian dollar eked up 0.07 cents to 74.95 cents U.S. early Friday
Enbridge expects to make a decision on whether to go ahead with its controversial Northern Gateway pipeline late next year, adding, though, it could not commit to a timeline.
National Bank Financial raised the price target on CIBC to $100.00 from $99.00
Raymond James raised the rating on First Quantum Minerals to strong buy from outperform
CIBC raised the target price on TD Bank to $59.00 from $58.00
Experts say OPEC looked unlikely to take steps to cut oil production to lift languishing prices, potentially worsening one of the worst crude gluts in history.
Statistics Canada announced that the economy shed 36,000 jobs in November, most of them part-time jobs. The decline follows a similar-sized rise in October. The unemployment rate moved forward 0.1 percentage points to 7.1%.
Still on the economic beat, the agency also reported that Canada's exports decreased 1.8% and imports declined 0.8% in October. That means our merchandise trade deficit with the world widened from $2.3 billion in September to $2.8 billion in October.
Finally, Western University in London, Ontario is out later this morning with its IVEY Purchasing Managers Index for November.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 2.81 points Thursday to 511.72.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures are pointing up but most global stock markets are in the red.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones gained 34 points, or 0.2%, to 17,520, futures for the S&P 500 improved 4.75 points, or 0.2%, to 2,056, and futures for the NASDAQ took on 5.5 points, or 0.1%, to 4,616.5.
Investors continue to monitor Yahoo on word that its Yahoo's board was meeting this week to discuss the company's future.
Yahoo has steadily lost ground in the digital ad race to Google and Facebook.
On the economic slate, the U.S. economy churned out more jobs than forecast in November, underscoring Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s confidence that the U.S. economy is strong enough to withstand higher borrowing costs.
The Labor Department’s reported 211,000 increase in payrolls followed a 298,000 gain in October that was bigger than previously estimated. The median forecast called for a 200,000 advance. The jobless rate held at a more than seven-year low of 5%.
The November jobs report is the last big economic event before the U.S. Federal Reserve will decide whether to raise its key interest rate for the first time in nearly a decade. The Fed is looking to confirm that the economy is continuing to improve, but experts opine the central bank doesn't need to see a stellar jobs report -- 192,000 jobs would likely be enough to justify a rate hike.
European markets are all declining in early trading as investors continue to consider the implications of the European Central Bank's latest move to boost the economy.
Investors had expected that the ECB would make dramatic policy moves on Thursday but they were disappointed when the central bank didn't fully deliver.
The ECB cut its deposit rate deeper into negative territory -- effectively charging banks more for holding money with it -- and said it would continue to buy government bonds and other assets until March 2017, six months longer than previously planned.
All Asian markets took a dip as the ECB’s decision made its presence felt around the world. Japan's Nikkei lost more than 2%, while the Shanghai Composite fell 1.7%.
Oil prices advanced 50 cents to $40.82 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices added to $6.06 to $1,056.92 U.S. an ounce.
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