Canadian stocks looked set to open higher on Friday as investors digested monthly U.S. and Canadian employment reports.
The S&P/TSX composite index eked up 3.39 points to conclude Thursday trading at 14,800.18, with Friday’s futures up 0.1%.
The Canadian dollar faded 0.03 cents at 91.50 cents U.S. early Friday.
Sources say Canada is set to buy 65 Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets, marking a major renewal of Canada's fighter fleet and helping contain costs of the expensive defense program.
Timmins Gold Corp said it had set up a special committee of independent directors to help respond to a proxy fight launched by a major shareholder to take control of the gold miner's board.
National Bank Financial raised the rating on Air Canada to outperform from sector perform
Canaccord Genuity raised the rating on Cameco Corp. to hold from sell
On matters macroeconomic, Statistics Canada reported that the Canadian economy produced 26,000 jobs in May, driven by gains in part-time work. But as more people entered the job market, unemployment rate was bumped up 0.1 percentage points to 7%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange moved up 3.50 points Thursday to 985.92.
ON WALLSTREET
Wall Street looks set to continue a record-setting climb to end the week, with all eyes on the key jobs report.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials added 30 points, or 0.2%, to 16,848. Futures for the S&P 500 gained 0.80 points to 1,939.30, and futures for the NASDAQ took on 2.25 points, or 0.1%, to 3,778.50
The jobs report provided something of a relief with the economy south of the border with the U.S. Labor Department reporting that 217,000 were created last month, with the unemployment rate steady at 6.3%.
Economists had projected that 200,000 jobs werecreated in May, down from 288,000 in April. As long as at least 113,000 jobs were created, the U.S. will have now finally recovered all the jobs lost in the financial crisis. Still, most Americans think the economy won't fully recover for years.
In terms of individual stocks, Bank of America may have a rocky day -- edging down 1% ahead of the open, after government sources said that the bank was negotiating a deal with the U.S. Justice Department that could lead to a $12-billion U.S. settlement related to the bank's mortgage banking practices.
It's also worth keeping an eye on Credit Suisse and Facebook today -- both are among the top 10 most active during pre-market trading on the NASDAQ
European markets jumped in midday trading, led by a 1.3% rise in Spain, as the European Central Bank's stimulus package continued to bolster appetite for riskier assets. London's FTSE 100 climbed 0.4%. The euro slipped 0.1% against the U.S. dollar.
Most Asian markets closed in the red, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng losing 0.7% and China's Shanghai Composite dropped 0.5%. Japan's Nikkei 225 was little changed.
Oil prices acquired 27 cents to $102.75 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices sagged 80 cents to $1,252.50 U.S. an ounce.
