Futures for Canada's main commodity-heavy stock index drifted higher on Friday, tracking rising crude prices, while investors assessed earnings from major banks in the United States.
The TSX Composite finished 71.02 points in the red Thursday at 20,918.40.
March futures claimed 0.2% Friday.
The Canadian dollar eked up 0.04 cents to 74.79 cents U.S.
Meanwhile, Canaccord Genuity downgraded Lundin Mining Corp to "hold" from "buy."
Bank of Montreal appointed Royal Bank of Canada's (RBC) Carrie Cook as global head of investment and corporate banking.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange sank 4.62 points to close Thursday at 550.29.
ON WALLSTREET
Stock futures fell Friday as traders parsed through the first batch of fourth-quarter earnings while they awaited the second in a pair of closely watched inflation reports this week.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials plummeted 163 points, or 0.4%, to 37,762.
Futures for the S&P 500 waned 14 points, or 0.3%, at 4,801.50.
Futures for the NASDAQ sagged 61 points, or 0.3%, to 15,905.25.
On the week, the major averages are heading for modest gains. The Dow is up about 0.7%, while the S&P 500 is tracking for a 1.8% advance. The NASDAQ is the outperformer, up more than 3% through Thursday’s close.
Delta Air Lines fell 5% in premarket trading even after posting better-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter. Bank of America lost more than 2% after posting declining fourth-quarter profit, while BlackRock shed less than 0.1%. JPMorgan Chase bucked the trend, rising more than 2.5% before the opening bell, even after the bank said its earnings slipped 15% to $9.31 billion from a year earlier.
The producer price index is slated for release at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect the December producer reading to rise 0.1%.
The data comes after investors got a look at the latest consumer inflation data. December’s consumer price index came in modestly hotter than economists forecasted, with prices up 0.3% on the month and 3.4% from a year ago.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 picked up 1.5%, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index slid 0.4%.
Oil prices gained $2.39 to $74.41 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices soared $31.70 to $2,039.20 U.S. an ounce.
