Toronto stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Monday as China's manufacturing data calmed worries about the health of the world's second-biggest economy.
The S&P/TSX composite index was positive 24.57 points to end Friday at 13,395.40, with futures up 0.3%.
The Canadian dollar fell 0.08 at 94.05 cents U.S. early Monday
TransCanada Corp. CEO Russ Girling said on Friday the company has had to renegotiate expiration dates for shipping contracts on its Keystone XL crude oil pipeline at least three times due to delays getting approval to build the pipeline,
National Bank Financial cut the rating on Atrium Innovations to sector perform from outperform as the company announced an agreement to be acquired by private equity firm Permira for $24 a share in cash.
CIBC raised the target price on Superior Plus to $14 from $12 as it presented its Destination 2015 strategy that aims to transform the company into the best in class by 2015.
On the economic front, RBC is set to come out later this morning with its Canadian Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index for November. Last month’s reading came in at 55.6.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange increased 8.22 points Friday to 934.89
ON WALLSTREET
It was an incredible November for stocks in what's been an amazing year for the market.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials added five points to 16,071. Futures for the S&P 500 nicked higher 0.8 points to 1,804.90, and futures for the NASDAQ gained 4.75 points, or 0.1%, to 3,492.25
The Dow Jones industrial average and the NASDAQ both ended November with a gain of about 3.5%. The S&P 500 advanced almost 3%. The Dow and S&P 500 are near record highs, while the Nasdaq rose above 4,000 last week for the first time in 13 years.
The retail sector will be in focus this week as results from the first weekend of the holiday shopping season are announced. An early report from the research firm ShopperTrak showed sales in much of the country on Thursday and Friday up slightly over last year.
Wal-Mart, Macy's, J.C. Penney, Kohl's and Sears all opened their doors a day early this year, offering shoppers a head start on Thanksgiving day. It appeared that the strategy may be working as stores reported good traffic on Thanksgiving night -- traffic that appeared to cut into their Black Friday business.
Investors are also eager to see how consumers responded to promotions by Best Buy, Apple and Amazon And consumers are expected to be busy clicking away for deals on their phones, tablets and PCs Monday, a relatively new holiday shopping tradition that has been dubbed Cyber Monday.
The week ahead brings a slew of economic data that could give investors a better sense of when the U.S. Federal Reserve may begin to scale back, or taper, its massive stimulus program.
The main event will be Friday's jobs report for November. The Fed has said that continued improvement in the labour market could trigger a reduction in its monthly purchases of $85 billion in Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities. Job growth was surprisingly strong in October, despite a temporary shutdown of several parts of the federal government.
Oil prices gained 31 cents to $93.03 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices dropped $14.30 to $1,236.10 U.S. an ounce.
