Futures for stocks in Canada’s largest centre rose on Friday as investors digested domestic retail sales data for May, while Air Canada reported a smaller second-quarter loss.
The TSX Composite index remained in the red 12.53 points by Thursday’s closing bell to 20,097.52.
The Canadian dollar dipped 5.5 cents to 79.54 cents U.S.
September futures gained 0.5% Friday.
Magna International said on Thursday it entered a deal to buy automotive technology firm Veoneer Inc in a deal valued at about $3.8 billion.
Air Canada reported a smaller second-quarter loss on Friday, as rising vaccination rates and easing restrictions aided a rebound in travel demand.
RBC cuts target price on Equitable Group to $161.00 from $169.00
Cormark Securities raised price target on Fairfax Financial Holdings to $700.00 from $675.00
National Bank of Canada initiates coverage on Magnet Forensics with outperform rating.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported retail sales declined 2.1% to $53.8 billion in May. The largest declines occurred at building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers (-11.3%) and motor vehicle and parts dealers
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange eked up 1.44 points Thursday to 909.96.
ON WALLSTREET
Stock futures rose Friday, as the major averages tried to post their fourth straight day of gains, overcoming concerns about economic growth earlier in the week.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials jumped 170 points, or 0.5%, to 34,879.
Futures for the S&P 500 popped 19 points, or 0.4%, to 4,378.50.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite Index raced higher 54.5 points, or 0.4%, to 14,983.
Strong earnings from tech stocks made investors optimistic ahead of reports next week from the biggest names in the sector. Twitter and Snap each jumped Thursday following better-than-expected second-quarter earnings reports. Twitter traded more than 5% higher in the pre-market, while Snap shot up 16.4%.
Facebook gained 2% in pre-market trading on the results from its social media competitors. Alphabet added about 1%. Both report next week along with Apple, Microsoft and Amazon.
Tech shares led the way on Thursday and looked set to do so again Friday. Microsoft had the most positive impact on the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ on Thursday; the stock closed 1.7% higher. Salesforce had the greatest positive impact on the Dow as the software stock gained 2.6% on Thursday.
All three U.S. stock averages are on pace to close the week in the green, rebounding from last week’s losses and Monday’s sharp selloff. The Dow dropped more than 700 points to start the week as yields fell, unnerving equity investors about the economy.
Now the average heads into Friday with a 0.4% gain for the week and is back to within 1% of a new record. The S&P 500 is up 0.9% for the week and the NASDAQ is up 1.8%. Both are also within 1% of the record.
Overseas, in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index stumbled 1.5%, while markets in Japan were shuttered for holiday.
Oil prices docked five cents to $71.86 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices fell $9.30 to $1,796.10 U.S. a pound.
