Equity markets in Toronto on Friday pointed to a lower open on concerns surrounding the impact of the Federal Reserve's stimulus taper on emerging markets.
The S&P/TSX composite index spiked 92.06 points to end Thursday’s session at 13,735.28, with Friday’s futures off 0.7%.
The Canadian dollar gave back a quarter of a cent to 89.35 cents U.S. early Friday
Canadian National Railway Co reported higher quarterly earnings on Thursday, saying its full-year volumes and revenue hit record highs, but the results were tempered by extreme winter weather in December and came in slightly below estimates.
Canadian Oil Sands Ltd said on Thursday fourth-quarter profits fell 12 percent due to higher expenses and a bigger foreign exchange loss.
Celestica Inc. said its quarterly profit narrowly beat analysts' average estimate due to a slight improvement in margins and a tax benefit.
The U.S. State Department is poised to issue an environmental review of TransCanada Corp's proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline that will likely say the project will not appreciably increase carbon emissions, sources said late Thursday, forcing President Barack Obama closer to a tough decision.
On items economic, Statistics Canada reported that real gross domestic product grew 0.2% in November, up for a fifth consecutive month.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange faltered 5.88 points to close Thursday at 952.88
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks look set to close out a bumpy first month of 2014 in the red, with corporate earnings again in the limelight.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials plunged 104 points, or 0.7%, to 15,629. Futures for the S&P 500 dipped 16 points, or 0.9%, to 1,765.20, but futures for the NASDAQ backtracked 11.50 points, or 0.3%, to 3,490.50.
The tech-heavy NASDAQ index has fallen 1.3% so far this year, suffering less than the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500, which are down by 4.4% and 2.9% respectively.
Heading into the final day of January, investors will again be focused on earnings. Firms including Chevron, MasterCard and Tyson Foods are scheduled to release quarterly results before the opening bell.
Google shares rose in pre-market trading, after falling initially in response to fourth-quarter results results released late Thursday.
The recovery came during the company's conference call with analysts, which some said was due to Google's plan to a new class of shares through a stock split set to take place this spring.
Microsoft shares ticked up slightly following a Bloomberg report that the company is preparing to name executive vice president Satya Nadella as its next CEO.
Chipotle shares rose following strong fourth-quarter results.
Zynga shares soared 16% before the bell after the social gaming company announced a new round of job cuts and posted a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss.
Investors are also waiting for the U.S. Commerce Department to release its monthly report on personal income and spending this morning. Later on, the University of Michigan and Thomson Reuters will release the latest edition of their Consumer Sentiment Index.
European markets were trading lower after a choppy session Thursday. Most Asian markets were closed Friday for the Lunar New Year holiday. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 closed down 0.6%.
Oil prices fell 95 cents to $97.28 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices progressed $5.90 to $1,248.10 U.S. an ounce.
