The Toronto stock market appeared set to move slightly higher Thursday while traders prepared to take in the release of American job creation figures Friday and European leaders weighed the possibility of sanctions against Russia.
The S&P/TSX composite index ended Wednesday up 14.31 points to 14,304.17
The Canadian dollar inched up 0.04 at 90.70 cents U.S. early Thursday
On the corporate front, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. said its quarterly adjusted net income came in at 52 cents per share, four cents below estimates. Cash flow per share was $1.64, which was 10 cents below the estimate. The company’s quarterly dividend will rise to 22.5 cents per shares, up two cents.
The National Energy Board is set to release a decision today on whether it will allow energy delivery giant Enbridge to reverse the flow and increase the capacity of a pipeline that pump soil between southern Ontario and Montreal.
Line 9 originally shuttled oil from Sarnia to Montreal, but was reversed in the late 1990s in response to market conditions to pump imported crude westward. Enbridge now wants to flow oil back eastwards to service refineries in Ontario and Quebec.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported that building permits issued by Canadian municipalities increased 8.5% to $7.0 billion in January, following a 4.8% drop in December.
The improvement in January came from higher construction intentions in the residential sector, which more than offset a decline in the non-residential sector.
Later on this morning, the Ivey Purchasing Managers’ Index will be released by Western University.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange grew 7.95 points Wednesday to 1,029.28.
ON WALLSTREET
Markets seemed to have regained their composure after some sharp volatility earlier in the week.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials picked up 27 points, or 0.1%, to 16,382. Futures for the S&P 500 gained 3.4 points, or 0.2%, to 1,875.80, and futures for the NASDAQ put on 4.25 points, or 0.1%, at 3,732.50
On the corporate front, the grocery store chain Kroger will report earnings before the bell.
Staples shares fell in pre-market trading after the office supplier reported a slump in last year's sales and announced that 225 stores will be closed by the middle of 2015.
Discount retailer Costco reported a gain in quarterly revenue and profit, as well as same -tore sales.
Shares took off for Pluristem Therapeutics after the biotech got the green light from the Food and Drug Administration to manufacture placenta-based cell therapies in Israel.
H&R Block and Quicksilver will report after the close.
Shares in Facebook were up slightly before the open. This week's TechCrunch report suggesting that Facebook is in talks to buy drone maker Titan Aerospace put Facebook investors in a particularly good mood.
Looking to the economic news of the day, investors are waiting for the U.S. government to publish its weekly initial jobless claims report. January factory order numbers will be out at 10 a.m. ET.
While the crisis in Ukraine remains unresolved, U.S. investors now seem to feel relatively insulated, believing the worst-case scenario of a full-fledged war is unlikely.
European markets were buoyant in midday trading. The CAC 40 index in France was making the biggest advance, up by 0.6%.
Asian markets all closed with gains. Japan's Nikkei 225 led the way with a 1.6% jump.
Oil prices dipped 62 cents to $100.83 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices dropped $3.40 to $1,336.90 U.S. an ounce.
