Stock futures pointed to a lower opening for Canada's main stock index on Thursday, as oil prices weakened on profit taking after three sessions of gains.
The S&P/TSX Composite fell 52.51 points to close Wednesday at 14,313.10. June futures dipped 0.6%.
The Canadian dollar dropped 0.33 cents to 78.46 cents early Thursday
BRP Inc reported a lower-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday, as the company offered aggressive promotions to stimulate demand for its snowmobiles amid low snowfall.
Baytex Energy Corp has restarted nearly all the heavy crude output it shut last year, encouraged by the months-long rally in oil prices, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
BMO Capital raises price target on Dollarama to $105.00 from $96.00 with an outperform rating.
CIBC raised the target price on North West Co. to $32.00 from $31.00
Barclays starts coverage on Waste Connections with an overweight rating, and a $97.00 price target
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported that its new housing price index moved up 0.3% in April, following a 0.2% increase in March, the largest monthly advance since October and mainly driven by new housing prices in Ontario.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange hiked 10.33 points, or 1.5%, Wednesday to 711.37
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures are slipping Thursday morning.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials backtracked 58 points, or 0.3%, to 17,937, while futures for the S&P 500 fell eight points, or 0.4%, to 2,110. NASDAQ futures faded 13.25 points, or 0.3% to 4,505.75.
Vodafone Group is up 1.5% pre-market after announcing a $2.4-billion U.S. merger between its New Zealand unit and the country's biggest pay-TV provider, Sky Network.
Shares in Orexigen Therapeutics are surging 4.7% pre-market after the pharmaceutical company focused on treating obesity announced it had won a patent ruling against rival Actavis.
JM Smucker Co and Christopher and Banks Corporation are reporting ahead of the open. H&R Block and Mattress Firm will report after the close.
The U.S. Department of Labor will release its initial jobless claims report this morning.
European markets are in the red in early trading. Markets across China and Hong Kong were closed on Thursday because of a holiday. Other Asian markets ended the session down.
Oil prices dipped 59 cents to $50.64 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices sagged $2.79 to $1,260.01 U.S. an ounce.
