Stock futures fell on Friday as traders digested gross domestic product data for January.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index slid 78.87 points to finish Thursday at 15,578.76. June futures sank 0.2% Friday
The Canadian dollar hesitated 0.04 cents at 74.94 cents U.S. early Friday.
BlackBerry Ltd reported a smaller quarterly loss as operating costs nearly halved. The company's net loss narrowed to $47 million, or 10 cents per share, in the fourth quarter ended Feb. 28, from $238 million, or 45 cents per share, a year earlier.
Instinet cut the target price on Cenovus Energy to $18.00 from $20.00
CIBC raised the target price on Dollarama Inc. to $125.00 from $111.00
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported that Canada’s GDP grew 0.6% in January on the strength of widespread growth across both goods- and service-producing industries.
The agency also said that average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees registered at $967.00 in January, little changed from December and up 1.8% from January 2016.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange subtracted 4.24 points Thursday to 807.81
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Friday as traders perused a batch of data.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials skidded 17 points, or 0.1%, to 20,643. Futures for the S&P 500 slipped 3.5 points, or 0.2%, to 2,361. NASDAQ futures dropped 3.5 points, or 0.1%, to 5,434.
While March has been a mixed month for stocks -- as the Republican-led bill to replace Obamacare failed to materialize -- the first quarter has seen strong gains for the NASDAQ, which is up more than 9%. The S&P is up more than 5% and the Dow almost 5% higher.
Personal income, consumer spending, and core PCE prices were all due early this morning, while Chicago PMI is set to come out at 9:45 a.m. ET. Consumer sentiment is slated to be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.
European stocks found their way slightly into the green by noon local time, while the Nikkei 225 slid 0.8% in Japan, but Shanghai’s CSI 300 pointed upwards 0.6%
Oil prices swooned 17 cents to $50.18 U.S. per barrel.
Gold prices dwindled $4.80 to $1,243.20 U.S. an ounce.
