Futures pointed to a higher opening for Canada's main stock index on Thursday as gold prices rose, supported by a slump in global equities and the U.S. dollar after the U.S. Federal Reserve signaled more hikes ahead.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index dropped sharply, losing 152.83 points, or 1.1%, to end Wednesday at 14,264.06
The Canadian dollar inched up 0.09 cents at 74.30 U.S. early Thursday
December futures boosted 0.4% Thursday.
Bombardier will deliver its first Global 7500 corporate jet on Thursday, premiering a full-sized bed and optional en-suite shower, in a challenge to U.S. plane maker Gulfstream at the top of the luxury jet market.
Hong Kong has awarded Bowtie Life Insurance, a company backed by Sun Life Financial's Hong Kong unit, the first online-only insurance licence under the city's "fast-track" scheme.
CIBC cuts price target on Sun Life Financial to $53.00 from $55.00
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported that wholesale sales rose 1.0% to $63.8 billion in October, more than offsetting the 0.7% decline in September. Sales were up in four of seven sub-sectors, representing about 68% of total wholesale sales.
Average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees were $1,009 in October, up 0.6% from the previous month. Compared with 12 months earlier, earnings increased by 2.5%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange withered 1.28 points Wednesday to 541.87
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. futures were little changed on Thursday morning after the Federal Reserve raised benchmark interest rates and said that it would continue to let its massive balance sheet shrink at the current pace.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 34 points, or 0.2%, to 23,347
Futures for the S&P 500 picked up 6.25 points, or 0.3%, to 2,510.75,
NASDAQ futures pointed up 23.5 points, or 0.4%, to 6,375.75
In corporate news, Accenture, Walgreens Boots Alliance and Carnival are among the major companies expected to release their latest quarterly earnings before the opening bell. Nike and Cintas are both scheduled to publish their latest results shortly after Thursday’s trading sessions ends.
The moves in pre-market trade come after the Fed decided to hike its benchmark overnight lending rate by one quarter point on Wednesday. The Dow fell more than 350 points following the Fed’s decision and pushed the major indexes to new lows for the year.
The Dow, S&P 500, and NASDAQ Composite all notched new closing and intraday lows for 2018 in the previous session.
The Dow, down 8%, and S&P 500, off 0.9%, are both in correction territory, are on track for their worst December performance since the Great Depression in 1931. The S&P 500 is now in the red for 2018 by 6.3%
The Dow has lost over 1,250 points this week.
On the data front, investors are likely to closely monitor Philly Fed manufacturing figures for December this morning, with the latest jobless claims data scheduled for publication at the same time.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 tumbled 2.8% Thursday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index lost 0.9%.
Oil prices subsided $1.60 to $46.54 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices picked up $1.90 to $1,251.30 U.S. an ounce.
