Futures for Canada's main stock index inched higher on Thursday, as gold prices rose, while cautious investors eyed U.S. Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell's speech for cues to the future path of monetary policy tightening.
The TSX gained 153.29 points to finish Wednesday’s session at 19,241.44.
Futures improved 0.2% Thursday.
Powell's speech comes a day after the Bank of Canada hiked its interest rate by 75 basis points to their highest level in 14 years and signaled its most aggressive tightening campaign in decades was not yet done as it battles to tame inflation.
The Australian competition regulator said it will not oppose an A$2.47 billion ($1.67 billion U.S.) acquisition of Link Administration Holdings by Canada's Dye & Durham Ltd, if it divests its existing local business.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange restored 8.07 points, or 1.3%, Thursday to 631.64.
ON WALLSTREET
Stock futures were flat Thursday as Wall Street looked to build on its best day in nearly a month.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials gained 15 points, or 0.1%, early Thursday to 31,192.
Futures for the S&P 500 hesitated 0.25 points to 3,979.75
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite Index faltered 12.5 points, or 0.1%, to 12,250.75.
Traders looked ahead to a Q&A session from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at the Cato Institute later in the day as they searched for more clues on the central bank’s plans for future rate hikes. The European Central Bank is also slated to announced its latest policy decision Thursday.
The stock market is coming off a solid rebound during Wednesday’s regular trading hours. The Dow gained about 436 points, or 1.4%. The S&P 500 added 1.8%, and the NASDAQ popped 2.1%.
It was the best day since Aug. 10 for all three averages, and the Nasdaq snapped a seven-day losing streak.
First Solar rose more than 4% in the pre-market after Goldman Sachs double-upgraded the solar stock to buy from sell.
Shares of GameStop rose 11% in extended trading after the company announced partnership with crypto exchange FTX.
On Thursday morning, investors will get the latest look at the U.S. economy with jobless claims data. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect 235,000 initial unemployment claims, up slightly from 232,000 in the previous week.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index jumped 2.3% Thursday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng lost 1%.
Oil prices gained 25 cents to $82.19 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slid $9.40 to $1,737.20 U.S. an ounce.
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