Futures inched higher for stocks in Canada’s biggest market on Friday and the market was set to gain for a second consecutive week on optimism around a faster pace of economic rebound, but weak metal and oil prices capped further gains.
The TSX gained 99.8 points, adding to Wednesday’s all-time high, climbing to 19,228.87 by Thursday’s close
The Canadian dollar ditched 0.09 cents at 79.51 cents U.S.
June futures eked up 0.1% Friday.
CIBC raised the price target on AirBoss of America to $47.00 from $42.00
National Bank of Canada ups the rating on Equinox Gold to outperform from sector perform
BMO raised the price target on IGM Financial to $41.00 from $38.00
BMO raised the price target on Torex Gold Resources to $30.00 from $29.00
On the economic platform, Statistics Canada reported that umployment rose 303,000 (or 1.6%) in March. Combined with an increase of 259,000 (1.4%) in February, this brought employment to within 1.5% (-296,000) of its February 2020 level. The unemployment rate fell 0.7 percentage points to 7.5%, the lowest level since February 2020.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange climbed 7.6 points Thursday to 962.69.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures idled in early trading Friday after the S&P 500 notched a fresh record in the regular session.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials acquired 66 points, or 0.2%, to 33,455.
Futures for the S&P 500 eked higher 2.5 points, or 0.1%, to 4,091.50.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite index slid 28.25 points, or 0.2%, to 13,719.75 Friday.
The major averages are set to end the week higher. The Dow is up nearly 1.6% this week. The S&P 500 has gained more than 1.9% since Monday. The Nasdaq Composite has rallied more than 2.5% heading into Friday.
Pre-market moves were slight, but stocks linked to the recovering economy were gaining in early trading. Carnival Corp rose 1.5% after getting two upgrades on Wall Street amid pent-up demand and potential summer restart. JPMorgan added 0.9%. Tech stocks including Apple and Netflix pulled back slightly in early trading.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 eked ahead 0.2% Friday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index declined 1.1%.
Oil prices docked 18 cents to $59.42 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices stumbled $14.40 to $1,743.80 U.S.
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