Stock futures pointed to a higher opening for equity markets in Canada on Monday as gold prices rose and investors awaited the release of the monthly manufacturing report.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index triumphed 65.02 points Friday to end the day, week and month at 13,951.45. The index increased 3.3% in April, matching the longest monthly winning streak since August 2014. June futures sprang up 0.3% Monday morning.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.2 cents to 79.87 cents U.S. early Monday.
Documents obtained by Reuters show that Canadian National Railway struggled to keep some heavily used track in adequate repair even after a string of derailments last year showed the danger of moving oil on poorly maintained track.
The Trudeau government says it is eager to consider joining the pension fund Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec in investing in a new public transport light rail network in Montreal, the third-largest of its kind in the world.
CIBC raised the target price on Air Canada to $14.00 from $12.00
Canaccord Genuity raised the target price on Bank of Montreal to $85.00 from $82.00
BMO cut the target price on Constellation Software to $530.00 from $580.00, maintaining market perform
Economically speaking, the RBC Canadian Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' index (PMI) is due at 9:30 a.m. ET.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange marched ahead 9.73 points Friday to 674.87
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures are edging higher, and most European markets are also up.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials hiked 35 points, or 0.2%, to 17,728, while futures for the S&P 500 moved ahead 4.75 points, or 0.2%, to 2,063.75. NASDAQ futures added 8.5 points, or 0.2%, to 4,340
Baker Hughes and Halliburton announced Sunday they are ditching their $34.6-billion U.S. merger plan because of regulatory challenges and general oil industry conditions. Baker Hughes is down 2.8% pre-market.
The second- and third-largest companies in the oil and gas industry first reached a deal in November 2014. Halliburton now has to pay Baker Hughes a $3.5-billion U.S. termination fee by Wednesday.
Sysco is among the companies expected to post quarterly earnings ahead of the opening bell.
American International will report its latest quarter after the close.
At 10 a.m. ET, the Institute for Supply Management will post its monthly update to the ISM Index, which gauges expansions and contractions in the U.S. economy.
A reading below 50 denotes a contraction, and March's 51.8 was the first since last September to be in the expansion zone.
European markets are mostly up in early trading. But there's no trading in the U.K. because of a public holiday.
Asian markets ended the session mostly lower, with much of the region off for holidays. Japan’s Nikkei 225 slid 3.1%,
Oil prices fell three cents to $45.89 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices soared $6.14 to $1,299.67 U.S. an ounce.
