Futures for Canada's main stock index inched down on Friday as crude oil prices extended declines, while investors cautiously awaited domestic labour market data.
The TSX let go of 259.81 points, or 1.3%, to limp to the finish Thursday at 20,086.72.
March futures on the S&P/TSX index slid 0.3% Friday morning.
The Canadian dollar eked 0.04 cents higher to 72.34 cents U.S.
Among company news, brokerage BMO downgraded oil services provider Shawcor to "market perform" from "outperform".
On the economic front, Statistics Canada says employment held steady in February at 22,000, a gain of a slight 0.1%, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.0%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dipped 7.49 points, or 1.2%, Thursday to 617.74.
ON WALLSTREET
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell Friday as investors look to upcoming job data for clues into how the Federal Reserve may move forward. The action follows a steep selloff led by bank shares.
Futures for the 30-stock index capsized 78 points, or 0.2%, early Friday to 32,446.
Futures for the S&P 500 docked 4.25 points, or 0.1%, to 3,952.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite moved up 6.75 points, or 0.1%, to 12,151.
Shares of the SVB Financial tumbled again on Friday, down another 40% after initially plunging on plans to raise more than $2 billion in capital in a bid to offset losses from bond sales. The move weighed on the financial sector and banking stocks.
Wall Street posted a losing session Thursday. A drop in SVB Financial shares spurred a broad financial sector selloff, as investors grew concerned that higher interest rates would result in banks facing losses on loans due to borrower defaults. The selloff pushed the financial sector down 4.1% for its worst day since 2020.
Wall Street is bracing for February jobs report, which is slated to be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect nonfarm payrolls to rise 225,000 in the month, which would mark a slowdown in growth from January’s unexpectedly large gain of 517,000.
The unemployment rate is expected to remain unchanged from January — when it hit a low not seen since 1969 — at 3.4%, according to Dow Jones. Hourly wages are expected to have increased 0.4% from the prior month, gaining 4.8% from 12 months ago, economists estimate.
Traders are pricing in a roughly 63% chance of the Federal Reserve raising rates by half of a percentage point at its next policy meeting in about two weeks. Investors see Friday’s job report as a key driver in that decision, given the central bank’s continued focus on the strength of the labour market as a justification for rate increases.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index tumbled 1.7%, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng dipped 3%.
Oil prices faded 53 cents to $75.19 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices progressed $6.10 to $1,840.70 U.S. an ounce.
