Stock futures pointed to a higher opening for Canada's main stock index as Brent climbed towards $66 per barrel, boosting energy shares
The S&P/TSX composite index faded 48.19 points to close Wednesday at 15,072.83
The Canadian dollar shed 0.12 cents to 81.79 cents U.S. early Thursday.
Manulife Financial is seeking to list some of its U.S. property assets in Singapore in the second half of the year in an initial public offering worth $450 million.
Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp has agreed to the $6.50-per-share cash offer from Mexico's Alfa Sab de CV and investment firm Harbour Energy Ltd. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2015.
CIBC reinstated coverage of AG Growth International at sector perform following the company’s acquisition of Vicwest's Westeel division and debt and equity raise.
NBF initiated coverage of Kicking Horse Energy with an outperform rating citing the company’s robust growth profile & relative financial flexibility.
CIBC started Oryx Petroleum with an outperform rating to reflect the company’s largely positive drilling results in Kurdistan over the past two years.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada said the number of Canadians drawing employment insurance in March, totaled 517,900 people, up 5,900 or 1.1% from February. Compared with March 2014, the number of EI beneficiaries rose 2,600, the first year-over-year increase since February 2010.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 0.43 points Wednesday to 695.42
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures are looking soft ahead of the open.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials faded 22 points, or 0.1%, to 18,234, futures for the S&P 500 dipped 2.75 points, or 0.1%, to 2,119.75, and futures for the NASDAQ fell 10.75 points, or 0.2%, to 4,494.75
Salesforce.com looks set to surge after the company reported better-than-expected earnings.
Shares in the oil drilling services firm Transocean are rising by about 2.5% pre-market after the company said it had reached two settlements related to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010.
The first settlement will see the company pay roughly $212 million U.S. to plaintiffs. The second settlement with BP will see both companies drop their legal wranglings over the incident.
Best Buy and Dollar Tree are reporting ahead of the open.
Hewlett-Packard and The Gap will report after the close.
The U.S. government will post weekly jobless claims this morning.
The National Association of Realtors will report existing home sales data at 10 a.m. ET.
European markets are mostly lower in early trading.
Asian markets ended with mixed results.
Oil prices gained 65 cents to $59.63 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices doffed $1.20 to $1,207.50 U.S. an ounce.
