Canada’s main stock index futures rose on Friday as a de-escalation in U.S.-Iran tensions boosted appetite for riskier assets.
The TSX Composite Index progressed 67.75 points Thursday to an all-time high close of 17,235.57
March futures eked up 0.1% early Friday.
The Canadian dollar dipped 0.04 cents to 76.51 cents U.S. early Friday
Berenberg raised the target price on Endeavour Mining to $32.00 from $28.00
RBC cut the target price on Parkland Fuel to $53.00 from $54.00
Scotiabank raised the target price on IA Financial Corp to $77.00 from $74.00
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that the economy created 35,000 jobs in December, a jump of 0.2% from the month before.
The unemployment rate fell 0.3 percentage points to 5.6%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange backtracked 0.25 points Thursday to 577.66
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock index futures pared earlier gains on Friday after the release of disappointing U.S. employment data.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials gained 36 points, or 0.1%, early Friday to 28,961.
Futures for the S&P 500 took on five points, or 0.2%, at 3,281.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite gained 30 points, or 0.3%, to 9,039.
On the data front, the U.S. economy added 145,000 jobs in December. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect the U.S. economy to have added 160,000 jobs in December.
Wages also disappointed, growing by just 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Economists had forecast a gain of 3.1%. December was also the first month since July 2018 that wages grew by less than 3% from the year before.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 surged 0.5% Friday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index took on 0.3%.
Oil prices ducked 15 cents to $59.41 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slid five dollars to $1,549.30 U.S. an ounce.
