Canadian stocks looked set to open higher on Monday as investors await a raft of global economic events in the week, including the Bank of Canada's rate decision and a testimony from the head of the U.S. Federal Reserve.
The S&P/TSX composite index inched up 11.02 points to close out the day and week at 15,125.50. Monday’s futures were up 0.1%.
The Canadian dollar nicked up 0.06 cents to 93.20 cents U.S. early Monday
Changes allowing Canadian wireless phone customers to cancel their contracts without penalty after two years have increased the costs of basic plans, while the price of heavy-use plans continued to fall, a study to be released showed.
Bombardier said it had signed an agreement with Chinese carrier Zhejiang Loong Airlines for 20 of its CSeries jetliners.
Barrick Gold said on Sunday it is forming a joint venture with Saudi Arabian Mining Co to run its Jabal Sayid copper asset in the kingdom, a move that could see the long-delayed mine finally begin production in late 2015.
Raymond James cut the rating on SEMAFO to market perform from outperform
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange eked up 0.08 points Friday to 1,022.93.
ON WALLSTREET
Markets are off to a positive start this week as investors gear up for a flurry of earnings from big names, starting with Citigroup on Monday.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials zoomed 78 points, or 0.5%, higher to 16,959. Futures for the S&P 500 gained 8.25 points, or 0.4%, to 1,970.75, and futures for the NASDAQ took on 18.75 points, or 0.5%, to 3,916.25
Citigroup will report earnings before the opening bell. It may also announce a $7-billion U.S. deal with U.S. regulators to settle charges related to the sale of bad mortgages during the run-up to the financial crisis.
AbbVie has won the support of the management of Shire, a London-listed drugmaker, for its improved £31-billion ($53-billion U.S.) takeover bid. The deal should allow AbbVie to move its tax base to the U.K. under a process known as "inversion." Pfizer tried but failed with a similar approach earlier this year toAstraZeneca.
Tech stock could be the stars of the earnings parade this week and some big names were moving pre-market Monday. Apple and Facebook were both up by about one percent, while Amazon and Google posted slightly narrower gains.
Economically speaking, the Census Bureau will report U.S. retail sales from the month of June this morning.
The DAX index is the strongest gainer in Europe early Monday, up 0.8%. Germany has captured its first soccer World Cup in 24 years, beating Argentina in Sunday's final. U.S. stock futures were 0.3% higher.
Asian markets were also mainly positive, tracking Wall Street's firmer close Friday.
Oil prices receded 17 cents to $100.60 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices fell $20.30 to $1,317.10 U.S. an ounce.
