Futures pointed to a higher opening for Canada's main stock index on Friday, as oil prices rose on the upcoming Sino-U.S. trade talks and a survey that showed an expansion in China's services sector in December.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index moved sharply lower, 134.41 points, to meet Thursday’s closing bell at 14,212.75
The Canadian dollar gained 0.21 cents at 74.39 U.S. early Friday
March futures soared nearly 1% Friday.
Canada said on Thursday that 13 of its citizens have been detained in China since Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou was arrested last month in Vancouver at the request of the United States.
An entity controlled by Hudson's Bay Chairman Richard Baker will buy the stake owned by a unit of Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board in the Canadian retailer, according to L&T B Cayman Inc, a top shareholder in Hudson's Bay and a joint buyer.
The Idaho Public Utilities Commission has rejected Canadian electric utility Hydro One's proposed $6.7-billion acquisition of Avista Corp.
TD Securities cut the rating on to hold from buy
Desjardins cut the target price on Stingray Group to $9.00 from $11.00
On the economic calendar, the number of jobs in Canada held steady during December. Statistics Canada also says the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.6%.
What’s more, the agency Industrial Product Price Index decreased 0.8% in November, mainly due to lower prices for energy and petroleum products.
The Raw Materials Price Index fell 11.7%, largely reflecting lower prices for crude energy products.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange climbed 7.49 points, or 1.3%, to 578.49
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock index futures rose sharply on Friday as Netflix and Intel were poised to lead a strong rebound in tech stocks.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 267 points, or 1.2%, to 22,926
Futures for the S&P 500 vaulted 30.25 points, or 1.2%, to 2,478
NASDAQ futures hiked 86.25 points, or 1.4%, to 6,248.25.
Futures jumped as Netflix rose 3.1%, and Intel rose 2.8%, in the pre-market. Netflix rose after Goldman Sachs added the streaming service to its conviction buy list.
Dow-member Intel rose after Bank of America Merrill Lynch upgraded it to buy from neutral.
The gains in Netflix and Intel also lifted other tech-related stocks. Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Google-parent Alphabet all rose more than 1% before the bell.
Tech’s move higher took place after the sector fell 5.1% on Thursday, its worst daily performance since Aug. 18, 2011, when it fell 5.4%.
The sharp move lower was triggered by a dire quarterly warning from Apple, which propelled the tech giant’s stock to its worst day in six years and dampened market sentiment across the world. Apple slashed its fiscal first-quarter revenue guidance earlier this week, citing an unexpected slowdown in China.
The announcement comes as China and the U.S. try to strike a deal on trade. China’s commerce ministry said the U.S. and Chinese would hold vice-ministerial level negotiations over trade in Beijing this coming Monday and Tuesday. Trade-related names like Caterpillar acquired 2.4% and Boeing rose 1.9%.
On Friday, investors will be monitoring key data releases, with non-farm payrolls out at 8.30 a.m., and unemployment data out at the same time.
Overseas, in Japan, resumed trading after taking Wednesday and Thursday off, and lost 2.3% Friday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index gained 2.2%
Oil prices improved 66 cents to $47.75 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dipped $1.60 to $1,293.20 U.S. an ounce.
