Futures fall amid global selloff

Futures for Canada's main stock index fell on Thursday following a rout in world markets, as jitters over rising U.S. Treasury yields and signs of slowing global growth sparked a broad selloff of risky assets.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index faltered 336.65 points, or 2.1%, to finish Wednesday’s trading at 15,517.40

The Canadian dollar eked up 0.07 cents to 76.71 cents U.S. early Thursday

December futures plummeted 1.3% Thursday

Barrick Gold, which recently announced a $6.1-billion deal to acquire Randgold Resources affirmed its 2018 gold and copper production forecast on Wednesday, reflecting improvements in operations.

Enbridge said on Wednesday it had approval to restart operations on a 30-inch natural gas pipeline in northern British Columbia, after a fire in an adjacent line led to disruptions for refineries in the U.S. state of Washington.

Chile's Supreme Court upheld an environmental order for a gold mine owned by Canada's Kinross Gold to close its water pumping wells, the environmental regulator said on Wednesday, ending a long-running dispute that sparked the Toronto-based miner's retreat from Chile.

Macquarie raised the price target on Celestica to $17.80 from $16.90

CIBC cuts target price on Leagold Mining to $4.25 from $5.00

Morgan Stanley cut the target price on Source Energy Services to C$4.5 from C$6.5

On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported its new housing price index was unchanged, despite growth in some markets. The agency says that in August, builders in 18 of the 27 census metropolitan areas surveyed reported flat or decreasing prices. The Canada-level index stood at 103.3 in August and has not risen above that mark since November 2017.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange slouched 10.39 points, or 1.5%, Wednesday to 692.57

ON WALLSTREET

U.S. stock index futures tanked ahead of Thursday's open, as the global market rout continued to thrash stocks.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials swooned 144 points, or 0.6%, to 26,375

S&P 500 futures lost 12 points, or 0.4%, to 2,769, while futures for the NASDAQ composite retreated 29.75 points, or 0.4%, to 7,002.25

Tech shares were also headed for a steep decline after posting their worst day in seven years in the previous session. Facebook and Apple were both down more than 1% in the pre-market, while Amazon and Netflix dropped at least 2% each. Twitter and Alphabet also traded more than 1% lower.

The rise in yields and the steep drop in equities come as Wall Street braces for the latest round of corporate earnings. J.P. Morgan Chase and Citigroup are among the companies set to kick off the season. Wall Street has high hopes for corporate earnings, with analysts polled by FactSet expecting a 19% gain on a year-over-year basis.

Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 3.9% Thursday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng regressed 3.5%

Oil prices dropped $1.05 to $72.12 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices climbed $14.30 to $1,207.70 U.S. an ounce.