Futures for stocks in Canada’s largest centre edged higher on Monday in a week packed with central bank decisions, while investors will be keeping a close eye on the domestic inflation data for more clues on the Bank of Canada's interest-rate path.
The TSX Composite gained a respectable 19.3 points to close Friday at 21,849.15. On the week, the index gained 111 points, or 0.5%.
March futures forged ahead 0.2% Monday.
The Canadian dollar was flat at 73.84 cents U.S.
In matters economic, Statistics Canada said its Industrial Product Price Index rose 0.7% on a monthly basis in February and fell 1.7% relative to February 2023. The Raw Materials Price Index increased 2.1% month over month in February 2024 and decreased 4.7% year over year.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange forged ahead 1.43 points Friday to 550.90. On the week, however, the index lost 24.8 points, or 4.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
S&P 500 futures climbed Monday, as Wall Street awaited a key artificial intelligence conference and looked ahead to monetary policy guidance from the Federal Reserve later this week.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials pushed ahead 12 points to 39,165.
Futures for the S&P 500 took on 28 points, or 0.5%, to 5,210.75.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite leaped 172.25 points, or 1%, to 18,230.
Nvidia shares were up more than 2% in the premarket ahead of the company’s GTC Conference — where the chipmaker is expected to showcase its latest inroads in artificial intelligence. Shares of Alphabet rose 4% after Bloomberg News reported that Apple was in talks with Google to include the company’s Gemini AI in iPhones. Meanwhile, Super Micro Computer climbed 2.8% ahead of the company’s first trading day as part of the S&P 500.
Those moves took place ahead of the Fed’s two-day policy meeting, which is slated to start Tuesday and end with an announcement Wednesday.
Inflation concerns have pressured stocks in recent days, with the S&P 500 set to enter Monday trading riding a two-week losing streak. The 30-stock Dow and Nasdaq are also coming off marginal losses.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 leaped 2.7% Monday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index edged up 0.1%.
Oil prices soared 48 cents to $81.52 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $1.10 to $2,162.60 U.S. an ounce.
