Futures for Canada’s main stock index were little changed on Friday, as higher oil prices helped offset concerns over an economic slowdown in China.
The TSX Composite Index slipped 0.88 points to end Thursday at 16,426.30
The Canadian dollar edged higher 0.01 cents to 76.12 cents U.S. early Friday
December futures nicked higher 0.04% early Friday.
CIBC cut the price target on Maple Leaf Foods to $40.00 from $41.00
KeyBanc raised the rating on Waste Connections to "overweight" from "sector weight"
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange pointed upward 5.02 points Thursday to 544.07
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock index futures were little changed in early trading Friday as investors were set to wrap up the first week of the earnings season.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials gathered 24 points, or 0.1%, early Friday to 27,017
Futures for the S&P 500 eked up 2.5 points, or 0.1%, at 3,000.50
NASDAQ Composite futures took on 1.75 points to 7,954.25
Dozens of S&P 500 companies have reported calendar third-quarter earnings this week. Of those companies, more than 80% have posted better-than-expected results.
Some of the companies posting stronger-than-forecast results this week include Bank of America, Netflix, J.P. Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley. Their results helped push the major indexes higher for the week.
The Dow was up 0.8% for the week through Thursday’s close. The S&P 500 gained 0.9%, and NASDAQ Composite was up 1.2% for the week.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 pointed ahead 0.2% Thursday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index ditched 0.5%.
Oil prices gained 63 cents to $54.56 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices ducked $5.40 to $1,492.90 U.S. an ounce.
