Canadian stocks looked set to open slightly lower on Friday, tracking weakness in global markets as investors remained on the sidelines ahead of next week's European Central Bank policy meeting.
The S&P/TSX composite index slipped 22.01 points to finish Thursday at 14,588.95.
The Canadian dollar squeezed ahead a penny to 92.29 U.S. early Friday.
Canadian National Railway CEO Claude Mongeau said on Thursday he expects U.S. regulators to phase out use of DOT-111 tank cars in three to five years, following a deadly explosion in Quebec last year.
CIBC raised the rating on Scotiabank to outperform from sector perform
KBW, NBF each raised target price on CIBC.
CIBC cut the rating on Royal Bank of Canada to sector perform from outperform
It’s a big day for economic news, as Statistics Canada reported that the Gross Domestic Product rose 0.3% in the first quarter, following 0.7% growth in the fourth quarter of 2013. This was the smallest increase since the fourth quarter of 2012. On a monthly basis, real GDP by industry edged up 0.1% in March.
The agency’s industrial product price index declined 0.2% in April, and its raw materials index increased 0.1% in the same month.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange fell 2.06 points Thursday to 981.52.
ON WALLSTREET
It looks like Wall Street will finish the month of May in positive territory, even though futures were showing a bit of weakness Friday.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials demurred nine points to 16,672. Futures for the S&P 500 dropped 1.4 points, or 0.1%, at 1,916.50, and futures for the NASDAQ settled 1.5 points to 3,734.
So far this month, the S&P 500 has surged by nearly 2% to hit new record highs. The Dow has gained 0.7% and the NASDAQ has posted a dramatic rebound after two months in the red, adding more than 3%.
Shares in BNP Paribas declined by roughly 5% in Europe after the Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. authorities were pushing the bank to pay more than $10 billion to settle a criminal probe of alleged sanctions violations.
Salesforce shares were up in extended trading after the company announced a partnership with Microsoft.
Ford stock was under a bit of pressure after the automaker announced four recalls affecting at least 1.4 million vehicles.
The U.S. government will release personal income and spending numbers for April this morning. The University of Michigan will publish a final reading of its May consumer sentiment index later on this morning
European markets were lower in morning trading, led by declines in the mining sector.
Asian markets ended with mixed results, with markets in Japan ending a six-session winning streak
Oil prices fell 50 cents to $103.08 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices slipped $2.90 to $1,253.40 U.S. an ounce.
