Stock futures pointed to a higher start for markets in Canada as oil prices gained after a wildfire in this country knocked out over a million barrels in daily production capacity.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index shot ahead 69.46 points to finish Friday and the week at 13,701.47, reducing its weekly loss to 1.8%
The Canadian dollar slid 0.22 cents to 77.24 cents U.S. early Monday.
Barclays upped the price target on Canadian Natural Resources to $39.00 from $36.00 and rating overweight as the Horizon expansions are completed and the company goes from having negative free cash flow in 2016 to having positive free cash flow in 2017.
It’s a long list of companies reporting earnings this morning: among them, Great Canadian Gaming, which expects Q1 earnings of 28 cents per share
H2o Innovation projects Q3 earnings of two cents per share
Information Services expects Q1 earnings of 15 cents per share
Inter Pipeline expects Q1 earnings of 37 cents per share
Morneau Shepell is looking for Q1 earnings of 22 cents per share
On the economic slate, there was disappointment, as housing starts fell by more than expected in April from a month earlier.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported that housing starts fell to 191,512 units in April from a downwardly-revised 202,375 units in March.
Forecasters had expected 195,000 starts.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange triumphed 11.84 points Friday, or 1.8%, to 668.97
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures are slightly upward ahead of the open. Stocks are set to open roughly where they left off on Friday.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials moved 52 points higher, or 0.3%, to 17,723, while futures for the S&P 500 gained 4.5 points, or 0.2%, to 2,057.25. NASDAQ futures added 14.75 points, or 0.3%, to 4,343
A number of companies are reporting quarterly results Monday morning, including Sotheby's and Tyson Foods.
Hertz, SolarCity and Liberty Global are all reporting after the close.
Many European markets are rising by about 1% in early trading.
Asian markets ended the day with mixed results. Chinese stock markets were particularly weak following the release of worse-than-expected Chinese export data in April.
The financial world is watching for the 2 p.m. ET release of the Panama Papers search database, which is expected to detail ties between 368,000 people and 300,000 offshore entities.
This new database will allow people to see for themselves which politicians, celebrities and business executives allegedly kept secret shell companies that were exposed in the Panama Papers.
Oil prices are jumping by about 2% to trade above $45.00 U.S. per barrel after Saudi Arabia ousted long-serving oil minister Ali al-Naimi. He was replaced by Khalid al-Falih, the chairman of state-owned oil firm Saudi Aramco.
Oil prices picked up 19 cents to $44.85 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices slid $17.46 to $1,271.53 U.S. an ounce.
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