Futures Fall on GDP Release

Stock futures fell on Friday as traders digested gross domestic product data for January.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index slid 78.87 points to finish Thursday at 15,578.76. June futures sank 0.2% Friday

The Canadian dollar hesitated 0.04 cents at 74.94 cents U.S. early Friday.

BlackBerry Ltd reported a smaller quarterly loss as operating costs nearly halved. The company's net loss narrowed to $47 million, or 10 cents per share, in the fourth quarter ended Feb. 28, from $238 million, or 45 cents per share, a year earlier.

Instinet cut the target price on Cenovus Energy to $18.00 from $20.00

CIBC raised the target price on Dollarama Inc. to $125.00 from $111.00

On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported that Canada’s GDP grew 0.6% in January on the strength of widespread growth across both goods- and service-producing industries.

The agency also said that average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees registered at $967.00 in January, little changed from December and up 1.8% from January 2016.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange subtracted 4.24 points Thursday to 807.81

ON WALLSTREET

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Friday as traders perused a batch of data.

Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials skidded 17 points, or 0.1%, to 20,643. Futures for the S&P 500 slipped 3.5 points, or 0.2%, to 2,361. NASDAQ futures dropped 3.5 points, or 0.1%, to 5,434.

While March has been a mixed month for stocks -- as the Republican-led bill to replace Obamacare failed to materialize -- the first quarter has seen strong gains for the NASDAQ, which is up more than 9%. The S&P is up more than 5% and the Dow almost 5% higher.

Personal income, consumer spending, and core PCE prices were all due early this morning, while Chicago PMI is set to come out at 9:45 a.m. ET. Consumer sentiment is slated to be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

European stocks found their way slightly into the green by noon local time, while the Nikkei 225 slid 0.8% in Japan, but Shanghai’s CSI 300 pointed upwards 0.6%

Oil prices swooned 17 cents to $50.18 U.S. per barrel.

Gold prices dwindled $4.80 to $1,243.20 U.S. an ounce.


Related Stories