Toronto's resource heavy index looked set to open lower on Thursday, after weak Chinese and European economic data rekindled concerns about slowing global growth.
The Canadian dollar gave back 0.66 cents this morning to 100.13 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Wednesday’s close saw the S&P/TSX Composite Index down 5.79 points to 12,436.49
The TSX Venture Exchange closed Wednesday 6.86 points to 1,577.56, while the Nasdaq Canada index fell 2.41 to 414.87
The Canadian dollar tacked on 0.12 cents this morning to 100.84 cents U.S.
Among stocks to watch soon after the opening bell, yogawear retailer Lululemon Athletica Inc. reported a surge in quarterly profit as sales in established stores jumped 26%
Air Canada is obliged by law to keep operations going at facilities that service its planes in the Canadian cities of Winnipeg, Mississauga and Montreal, or so say government officials.
Separately, the company said on Wednesday it has identified "qualified and government approved" facilities in Canada and the United States to replace Aveos Fleet Performance Inc, which has performed much of Air Canada's heavy maintenance work.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. index futures were down with less than half an hour before markets open, suggesting that stocks will fall at the start of trading.
Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average fell 54 points, or 0.7%, to 13,012. Futures for the broader S&P 500 fell seven points or 0.5% to 1,390.50, while futures for the Nasdaq dipped 10.25 points, or 0.4%, to 2,725.
Meanwhile, this is the day that weekly U.S. initial jobless figures are released, with economists expecting claims to hold relatively steady at 350,000.
Overseas, Europe’s downturn was even larger: The U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down 0.9% and Germany's DAX index was down 1.3% in afternoon trading.
The trigger for the slide seems to be China, where HSBC's preliminary purchasing managers' index for March fell to 48.1 from 49.6 last month. That points to a fifth straight contraction in monthly manufacturing activity and provides another reason to take seriously the threat of a hard landing for the Chinese economy.
Crude oil fell to $106 U.S. a barrel, down 1.2%. Gold fell to $1,635.10 U.S. an ounce, down 0.9%
