Canadian stock futures pointed to a lower opening on Thursday as the dollar climbed for a fifth straight day, weakening commodities and global stocks.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index dropped 114.01 points to close Wednesday at 13,379.48. June futures stepped back 0.6% Thursday morning.
The Canadian dollar dropped 0.19 cents to 75.54 cents U.S. early Thursday.
Equity markets throughout North America are closed tomorrow for Good Friday.
A federal judge on Wednesday granted class certification for a U.S. class-action lawsuit filed against Barrick Gold Corp claiming Barrick misstated facts of its now halted Pascua-Lama gold-mine project on the border of Argentina and Chile.
Raymond James cut the rating on Teck Resources to underperform from market perform
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported that Canadians receiving employment insurance benefits totaled 543,100 in January, virtually unchanged from the previous month.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange erased 6.78 points, or 1.2%, Wednesday, to 576.90
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures are sliding on the last day of a short week.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials sank 83 points, or 0.5%, to 17,343, futures for the S&P 500 dipped 11 points, or 0.5%, to 2,017.75. NASDAQ futures let go of 22.25 points, or 0.5%, to 4,473.25
Yahoo shares are edging higher pre-market after the Wall Street Journal reported that activist hedge fund Starboard has called for the struggling tech icon to replace its entire nine-member board. The stage is now set for a full-blown proxy fight.
Accenture and Finish Line are among the main companies reporting ahead of the opening bell.
On the economic front, the U.S. Department of Labor is reporting weekly jobless claims data. The government will release data on natural gas inventories at 10:30 a.m.
European markets are roughly 1% lower in early trading. Asian markets ended the day in the red, with most indexes dropping by 1% to 2%.
Oil prices faded 81 cents to $38.98 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices gained $3.41 to $1,223.52 U.S. an ounce.
