Stock futures pointed to a lower opening for Canada's main stock index on Thursday amid political uncertainty after Israel said it attacked nearly all of Iran's military infrastructure in Syria after Iranian forces fired rockets at Israeli-held territory for the first time.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index acquired 68.1 points by the end of Wednesday to 15,910.81
The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.46 cents to 78.26 cents U.S. early Thursday
June futures declined 0.2% Thursday
The attack was the heaviest Israeli barrage in Syria since the start in 2011 of its civil war, in which Iranians, allied Shi'ite militias and Russian soldiers have deployed in support of President Bashar al-Assad.
Enbridge's first-quarter profit handily topped analysts' forecasts on Thursday, as Canada's largest pipeline operator transported higher volumes of crude oil and natural gas.
Magna International Inc raised its full-year sales and profit forecasts on Thursday after posting higher sales across its businesses in the first quarter.
Telus Corp reported a 2.4% drop in first-quarter profit on Thursday, hurt by higher operating expenses.
Canadian Tire said on Thursday it would buy Norway-based sportswear and work-wear brand Helly Hansen for $985 million, including debt.
CIBC cut the price target on Alcanna Inc. to $10.00 from $13.00
National Bank of Canada raises target price on Franco-Nevada to $107.50 from $105
Barclays raised the target price on Open Text Corp. to $59.00 from $57.00
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported that in March, new house prices for Canada were unchanged, reflecting mixed results across the country. Rising prices in 13 census metropolitan areas (CMAs) were offset by flat or declining prices in the other 14 surveyed CMAs
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 3.23 points Wednesday to 774.05
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock index futures were flat ahead of Thursday's open, as markets awaited a fresh batch of corporate earnings, while watching out for the latest inflation data.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 10 points to 24,512
S&P 500 futures gained 3.25 points, or 0.1%, to 2,669.25, while futures for the NASDAQ composite index picked up 3.25 points, or 0.1%, to 6,899.25
On the corporate front, Worldpay, AMC Networks, Nvidia, Dropbox, News Corp., Symantec, TiVo and Yelp are all scheduled to publish their latest earnings.
Thursday, data and earnings are set to keep investors busy. At 8:30 a.m. ET, jobless claims and consumer price index (CPI) figures were set to be published, followed by the monthly treasury statement at 2 p.m. ET.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.4%, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index picked up 0.9%, while in Europe, fluctuated around the flatline, as investors awaited a monetary policy decision by the Bank of England.
Oil prices gained 34 cents to $71.48 U.S. per barrel.
Gold prices five dollars to $1,318 U.S. an ounce.
