Futures on Canada’s major stock market were little changed on Thursday ahead of a raft of economic data, including an inflation report for November.
The S&P/TSX Composite gained 12.93 points to close Wednesday at 15,305.89. Futures dipped 0.01% Thursday.
The Canadian dollar shed 0.57 cents to 74.22 U.S. early Thursday.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Wednesday that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump was "very supportive" of TransCanada Corp's proposed Keystone XL crude oil pipeline in their first conversation after the U.S. election.
Desjardins raised the target price on Bank of Montreal to $96.00 from $94.00
BMO raised the target price on Encana to $15.00 from $14.00
Canaccord Genuity raised the target price on SNC-Lavalin Group to $67.00 from $53.00
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported November’s consumer price index rose 1.2% on a year-over-year basis in November, following a 1.5% increase in October. On a seasonally- adjusted monthly basis, the CPI was down 0.2% in November, after increasing 0.2% in October.
The agency also says retail sales rose for the third consecutive month, rising 1.1% to $45.0 billion in October. Higher sales at gasoline stations and general merchandise stores mostly fueled the gain.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 1.62 points Wednesday to 718.49
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock index futures pointed to a flat open on Thursday as traders digested the release of a big batch of data.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials gathered five points to 19,896. Futures for the S&P 500 were unchanged at 2,260.50. NASDAQ futures gained only three points, or 0.1%, at 4,952.50
On the economic front, U.S. initial jobless claims jumped to 275,000 last week, with economists expecting them to total 256,000. Meanwhile, the final read on third-quarter U.S. Gross Domestic Product came in at 3.5%, above the expected 3.2%. Durable goods orders for November fell 4.6% last month, less than expected.
Personal income, consumer spending, PCE (Personal Consumption Expenditures) prices and leading indicators are all due at 10:00 a.m ET.
European indexes were a tad lower by lunch time over on the continent, while Asian markets were down, except for Australian and New Zealand markets, which enjoyed slight gains.
Oil prices subtracted six cents to $52.43 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices ditched $3.20 to $1,130.00 U.S. an ounce.
