Futures for Canada's main stock index rose on Friday as crude prices firmed and investors tracked upbeat sentiment on Wall Street, outweighing spillover worries from the U.S. regional bank selloff.
The TSX dropped 116.49 points to finish Thursday at 20,238.19.
June futures on the S&P/TSX index jumped 0.7% Friday morning.
The Canadian dollar hiked 0.19 cents to 74.12 cents U.S.
Canada's federal environment ministry opened a formal investigation into a months-long tailings leak at Imperial Oil Ltd's Kearl oil sands mine in northern Alberta, signalling a potential prosecution.
Magna International slightly raised its full-year sales forecast as the Canadian auto parts maker expects light vehicle production to improve in its two biggest markets of North America and Europe.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported the economy created 41,000 jobs in April, almost all of them part-time work.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange edged up 1.19 points to wind up Thursday at 607.30.
ON WALLSTREET
Stock futures rose Friday after tech giant Apple posted its latest quarterly figures, and investors looked ahead to the release of fresh U.S. jobs data.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials leaped 154 points, or 0.5%, at 33,350.
Futures for the S&P 500 moved upward 25.5 points, or 0.6%, to 4,101.25.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite sprang 82.25 points, or 0.6%, to 13,126.
Apple posted beats on the top and bottom lines for the fiscal second quarter, propelled by iPhone sales. Apple shares gained more than 2% in pre-market trading.
Regional banks also rose broadly. PacWest — which is down sharply this week on news it’s considering strategic options that include a sale — popped nearly 12%. Western Alliance also jumped more than 10%.
Shares of regional banking companies have been under pressure this week, as traders fear other institutions could suffer the same fate as Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. Both banks collapsed in March.
On the economic front, April’s nonfarm payroll data is slated for release at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists predict that 180,000 jobs were added, according to Dow Jones.
The report will come after the Federal Reserve hiked rates by 25 basis points earlier this week. The central bank also hinted an end to its rate hiking campaign may be on the horizon, but Chair Jerome Powell noted it’s too soon to start cutting rates.
Wall Street is headed for a week of losses — the worst performance for all three since March 10. The S&P 500 is off 2.6%, while the NASDAQ is off 2.1%. The Dow is down 2.8%.
Markets in Japan were closed for holiday once again Friday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng moved higher 0.5%.
Oil prices gushed $1.82 to $70.38 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices lost $9.20 to $2,046.50 U.S. an ounce.
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