Futures on Canada's main stock index were flat as investors await the outcome of talks between the United States and Canada to renew the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index was down 23.73 points to conclude Wednesday at 16,137.57
The Canadian dollar slipped 0.04 cents at 75.86 cents U.S. early Thursday
September futures dropped 0.03% Thursday
Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Wednesday the two countries made progress in negotiations and officials would work together to flesh out areas for further discussion.
Creditors of Hudson's Bay Co have agreed to a merger of the Canadian retailer's German department store chain Kaufhof with rival Karstadt, owned by Austria's Signa Holding.
Wal-Mart's Canadian unit said it would buy 30 more of Tesla Inc's all-electric 18-wheeler semi-trucks as part of a plan to have 100% of its fleet use alternative power by 2028.
Alimentation Couche-Tard reported a quarterly profit that topped analysts' estimates on Wednesday as the world's second-biggest convenience store operator benefited from higher fuel sales.
Canaccord Genuity cut the price target on Ecobalt Solutions to $0.90 from $1.80
CIBC cut the target price on Semafo Inc. to $4.00 from $4.25
National Bank of Canada raised the rating on WSP Global to outperform from sector perform
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reports municipalities issued $8.2 billion worth of building permits in July, down 0.1% from June. The decrease was mainly attributable to lower construction intentions in British Columbia.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slid 4.98 points Wednesday to 713.15
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock index futures indicated a flat open on Thursday as Wall Street looked to trade negotiations with Canada and awaited key economic data.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials picked up 43 points, or 0.2%, to 26,016
S&P 500 futures picked up 2.5 points, or 0.1%, to 2,890.75, while futures for the NASDAQ composite gained 7.25 points, or 0.1%, to 7,539
The major stock indexes fell on Wednesday as Netflix led a broad tech selloff. Netflix shares dropped 6.2% in the previous session, but bounced back 1.4% in the pre-market Thursday. Emerging-market shares also fell sharply on Wednesday but climbed 0.3% before the bell Thursday.
In the corporate space, Dell Technologies, Barnes & Noble, Lands' End, Broadcom, Domo, Five Below and Okta are all expected to publish their latest earnings reports.
Economic data coming out Thursday includes ADP National Employment Report; jobless claims, labour productivity and costs; services purchasing managers' index data; and Institute for Supply Management non-manufacturing data and factory orders
Meantime, the relationship between China and the States remains tense. Markets remain in wait-and-see mode after a report from Bloomberg last week revealed that the U.S. administration was on standby to inflict additional levies on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods as soon as this week.
China's commerce ministry stated Thursday that Beijing would retaliate if Washington was to inflict new tariffs. The deadline for the tariffs to go into effect is at midnight.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 dropped 0.4% while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index faded 1%.
Oil prices improved 12 cents to $68.84 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices heightened $10.30 to $1,211.60 U.S. an ounce.
