Canada's main stock index futures edged up on Thursday, tracking global markets, after China and the United States agreed to hold high-level trade talks in early October in Washington.
The S&P/TSX Composite gained 49.61 points to close Wednesday at 16,448.84
The Canadian dollar took on 0.17 cents to 75.78 cents U.S. early Thursday
September futures improved 0.4% Thursday.
Canaccord Genuity cut the target price on Goodfood Market to $3.75 from $4.50
RBC cut the rating on Kirkland Lake Gold to sector perform from outperform
Piper Jaffray raised the target price on Restaurant Brands International to $90 from $80
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 2.92 points Tuesday to 592.28
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock index futures rallied Thursday after the U.S. and China agreed to meet next month in Washington to discuss trade.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials rumbled higher 227 points, or 0.9%, early Thursday to 26,599
Futures for the S&P 500 hiked 24.25 points, or 0.8%, at 2,962.75
NASDAQ Composite futures jumped 84 points, or 1.1%, to 7,806.75
Advanced Micro Devices and On Semiconductor both gained more than 1%. Bank stocks such as J.P. Morgan Chase and Citigroup each traded more than 1% higher along with trade bellwethers Caterpillar and Boeing.
However, shares of Slack, maker of the popular workplace messaging chat app, were slammed after the company issued its first earnings report as a public company, briefly dropping below the reference price from its direct listing.
On the data front, investors are likely to monitor closely a flurry of economic reports on Thursday.
The private sector ADP National Employment Report for August will be released at 8:15 a.m. ET, with the latest weekly jobless claims and second-quarter productivity and unit labor costs set to be released slightly later in the session.
A final reading of services Purchasing Managers’ Index for August, Institute for Supply Management non-manufacturing data for August, and factory orders for July will also be released early Thursday.
China’s Commerce Ministry issued a statement Thursday morning saying that Liu He, Beijing’s top negotiator on trade, had spoken with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
The two sides agreed to hold another round of trade negotiations in Washington, D.C., towards the beginning of next month, and consultations will be made in mid-September in preparation for the meeting
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 2.1% Thursday, while in the Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index faded more than seven points
Oil prices slipped 10 cents to $56.16 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dropped nine dollars to $1,541.40 U.S. an ounce.
