Canada's main stock index futures were higher on Thursday, as oil prices recovered from sharp losses in the previous session, with investors hoping for further oil cuts from producers after data showed a big surge in U.S. inventories.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index dumped 299.85 points, or 2.1%, to conclude Wednesday at 13,958.58
The Canadian dollar squeezed ahead 0.09 cents early Thursday to 70.92 cents U.S.
June futures hiked 0.7% Thursday.
Canadian banks are beginning to relax lending standards for energy firms struggling to operate with oil prices at half the level needed to cover costs, seeking to keep them afloat until the industry recovers from its deepest slump ever.
Magna International is planning for a return to production in North America on May 4, with a subsequent gradual increase in output as the industry recovers from the shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic, a top executive said on Wednesday.
A U.S. court on Wednesday ruled against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' use of a permit that allows new energy pipelines to cross water bodies, in the latest setback to TC Energy's plans to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline.
Scotiabank raised the rating on Alacer Gold to outperform from sector perform
RBC cut the rating on Cascades Inc. to sector perform from outperform
National Bank of Canada cut the rating on Thomson Reuters to sector perform from outperform
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada informed us that February manufacturing sales increased 0.5% to $56.2 billion in February, following five consecutive monthly decreases. The growth was mainly due to higher sales in the transportation equipment industry.
Sales increased in 11 of 21 industries, representing 58.4% of total Canadian manufacturing.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dipped 2.54 points Wednesday to 442.71
ON WALLSTREET
Futures contracts tied to the major U.S. stock indexes hovered along the flatline on Thursday ahead of key jobless claims data.
Futures for Dow Jones Industrials advanced 44 points, or 0.2%, early Thursday to 23,435.
Futures for the S&P 500 moved up 7.5 points, or 0.3%, at 2,782.50.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite added 51.75 points, on 0.6%, to 8,645.75.
Thursday’s moves followed a slump during regular trading on Wednesday as gloomy economic data and anemic bank earnings fueled concerns over the coronavirus’s impact on the U.S. economy.
Central to Thursday’s session will be the U.S. Labor Department’s report on last week’s initial jobless claims, which economists polled by Dow Jones expected to total five million.
The jobless figures have proved a key retrospective gauge for those tracking the ailing health of the U.S. economy, with last week’s 6.61 million initial claims. Last week’s print brought total claims over the three weeks prior to more than 16 million, implying that about 10% of the U.S. workforce had filed for unemployment benefits over that time.
Despite the recent dismal economic data, some market strategists pointed to a slowdown in the daily number of new U.S. coronavirus cases and the flattening in the net number of hospitalizations in New York State as evidence that markets may trend upward in the coming weeks.
Eager to restart significant portions of U.S. commerce, President Donald Trump again advocated for a gradual reopening of the economy during a press conference Wednesday evening.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 subsided 1.3% Thursday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index fell 0.6%.
Oil prices gained 20 cents to $20.07 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices picked up $25.60 to $1,765.800 U.S. an ounce.
