Stock futures pointed to a lower opening for Canada's main stock index on Monday after a dismal U.S. payrolls report led investors to pare bets the Federal Reserve would hike interest rates anytime soon.
The S&P/TSX composite index hiked 84.07 points Thursday to close a short week at 15,026.62. June futures Monday morning were off 0.5%.
Markets were shuttered for Good Friday.
The Canadian dollar was firm at 80.15 cents U.S. early Monday.
Federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver promised on Thursday to deliver a balanced budget on April 21 despite the economic damage inflicted by low oil prices, and pledged to avoid what he called tax-and-spend plans that could damage a fragile recovery.
Barrick Gold said on Friday it has settled 11 claims related to atrocities committed against women over the last two decades at its Porgera gold mine in Papua New Guinea.
CIBC cut the price target on Dream Unlimited to $14.00 from $14.50, based on the company's announcement that it would re-organize the management structure of Dream Office REIT
National Bank Financial raised the target price on Richelieu Hardware to $70.00 from $65.00 after the company reported solid first-quarter results.
On the economic front, Western University is out with its Ivey PMI this morning.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 1.70 points Thursday to 683.02
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures are firmly in negative territory as investors get ready to react to the disappointing U.S. jobs report, which was released on Friday when markets were closed.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials tumbled 127 points, or 0.7%, to 17,549. Futures for the S&P 500 eased 14.75 points, or 0.7%, to 2,044.75, and futures for the NASDAQ slid 30.5 points, or 0.7%, to 4,276.75.
The monthly jobs report showed only 126,000 jobs were added in March, the lowest since December 2013 and well below the 244,000 new jobs expected by economists.
The unemployment rate remained stable at 5.5%.
Despite continual talk about its difficult financial situation, Greece said it has enough money to make a crucial debt payment this week to the International Monetary Fund.
Greece needs to pay the IMF about 460 million euros ($505 million U.S.) this week, but some were concerned the country wouldn't come up with the money.
European traders are expected to react to this latest Greek development on Tuesday when markets reopen after the long weekend.
Japanese markets moved lower, while Hong Kong and mainland Chinese markets continued their climbs.
Oil prices gained $1.13 to $50.27 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices hiked $17.70 to $1,218.60 U.S. an ounce.
