Futures for Canada's main stock index fell on Thursday, weighed by weakness in crude and bullion prices, on fears of a recession after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time in nearly three decades.
The S&P/TSX jumped 63.05 points to observe the closing bell Wednesday at 19,611.56.
June futures plummeted 1.9% Thursday.
The Canadian dollar reversed 0.04 cents to 77.31 cents U.S.
Canadian National Railway said on Wednesday a union representing about 750 workers in the country could potentially go on a strike on June 18.
CIBC cut the target price on AGF Management to $7.25 from $8.50.
CIBC cut Guru Organic Energy to a neutral rating
ATB Capital Markets cut the rating on Hexo Corp. to underperform from sector perform
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported wholesale trade fell 0.5% in April to $79.8 billion, the second decrease in the past three months.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange remained positive 5.58 points Wednesday to 665.65.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock index futures were under pressure Thursday, putting the major averages to give up the solid gains made in the previous session.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials withered 445 points, or 1.5%, early Thursday to 30,206.
Futures for the S&P 500 faded 69.5 points, or 1.9%, to 3,724.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite index plunged 255.75 points, or 2.2%, to 11,373.25.
Those moves come after the Federal Reserve implemented its largest interest rate hike since 1994 on Wednesday. The Fed raised rates by 75 basis points, as was widely anticipated.
The major averages ended the session higher, with the Dow and S&P 500 both snapping five-day losing streaks. The 30-stock benchmark added about 304 points, or 1%, while the S&P 500 advanced 1.46%. The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite was the relative outperformer, rising 2.5%.
However, market sentiment appeared to sour once again Thursday as other central banks around the globe adopted more aggressive policy stances and investors questioned whether the Fed can pull off a soft landing.
The Swiss National Bank overnight raised rates for the first time in 15 years. The Bank of England was set on Thursday to raise rates for the fifth straight time.
Tech shares moved lower in premarket trading following Wednesday’s bounce, with Tesla, PayPal, Nvidia, Amazon and Netflix all down more than 3%.
Travel stocks including United, Delta and Carnival also took a leg lower.
Economic data out Thursday includes weekly jobless claims numbers, with economists surveyed by Dow Jones forecasting a 220,000 print. Housing starts will also be released, while Adobe and Kroger will report quarterly updates.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.4% Thursday. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng sank 2.2%
Oil prices dropped $1.48 to $113.83 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $7.70 to $1,827.30 U.S. an ounce.
