Stock futures pointed to a lower opening for Canada's main stock index on Monday as investors turned cautious after weak manufacturing data from China and Europe.
The S&P/TSX composite index leaped 223.44 points, or 1.8%, to conclude the day, week and month at 12,815.37. March futures slumped 0.7% Monday morning.
The Canadian dollar slipped 0.3 cents to 71.28 cents U.S. early Monday.
Royal Nickel Corp, capitalizing on discount asset prices as commodity markets swoon, announced two cash-and-stock acquisitions that transform the mine developer into a cash-generating nickel, copper and gold producer.
CIBC raised the target price to on TransCanada Corp. to $57.00 from $56.00
China's manufacturing activity contracted at its fastest pace in almost three and a half years in January, suggesting the world's second-largest economy was off to a weak start in 2016.
Manufacturing growth also slowed in the euro-zone at the start of 2016.
On the economic beat, the RBC Canadian Manufacturing PMI data is due at 9:30 a.m. ET.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange hiked 7.09 points, or 1.4%, Friday to 499.52
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures are looking weak and many global stock markets are slipping. Oil is sinking back towards $33.00 U.S. a barrel.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials faded 108 points, or 0.7%, to 16,248, futures for the S&P 500 dropped 14.5 points, or 0.8%, to 1,915.5. NASDAQ futures eased 25 points, or 0.6%, to 4,238.
Aetna and Sysco will each post a quarterly update before the opening bell.
After the markets close, investors will hear from toy-maker Mattel and Alphabet, which is Google's new parent company.
Economically speaking, the U.S. federal Bureau of Economic Analysis will post national personal income and spending data for December early this morning.
Then, at 10 am, the Institute for Supply Management will release its key manufacturing activity metric for January, called the ISM Index.
Enthusiasm levels are low after new data showed China's manufacturing activity slumped again in January.
Oil prices slumped $1.19 to $32.43 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices added three dollars to $1,121.21 U.S. an ounce.
