Futures in Toronto rose on Friday on U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to reopen his country's economy, gradually, and as reports of a potential drug to treat COVID-19 boosted investor sentiment, lifting stock markets across the world.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index sank 59.26 points to end Thursday at 13,899.32
The Canadian dollar sank 0.14 cents early Friday to 71.08 cents U.S.
June futures hiked 2.2% Friday.
Newmont Corp’s CEO says the company is looking to restart some of its Canadian and South American gold mines shut last month to curb the spread of the new coronavirus.
National Bank of Canada cut the rating on Air Canada to sector perform from outperform.
Berenberg raised the target price on Maple Leaf Foods to $27.00 from $25.00
National Bank of Canada raised the rating on to sector perform from underperform.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange regained 4.69 points, or 1.1%, Thursday, to 447.40
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures surged after a report said a Gilead Sciences drug showed some effectiveness in treating the coronavirus, giving investors some hope there could be a treatment solution that helps the country reopen faster from the widespread shutdowns that have plunged the economy into a recession.
Futures for Dow Jones Industrials popped 753 points, or 3.2%, early Friday to 24,160.
Futures for the S&P 500 took on 81 points, or 2.9%, at 2,868.50.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite vaulted 171.25 points, on 2%, to 8,905.50. The NASDAQ-100 broke into positive territory for the year on Thursday.
The progress in the pre-market put the S&P 500 on track for its first back-to-back weekly gains since early February. Through Thursday’s close, the S&P 500 has risen 0.4%, while the NASDAQ climbed 4.7%, lifted by double-digit gains in Amazon and Netflix.
The 30-stock Dow was down about 0.7% this week through Thursday, dragged down by JPMorgan as interest rates tumbled.
Since late March, the S&P 500 has jumped more than 25% while the Dow has gained 26.6%.
A jump in Boeing shares and a rollout Thursday evening of the White House plan to reopen the economy also added to the bullish tone on Friday.
Gilead shares jumped more than 13% in pre-market trading after STAT news reported that a Chicago hospital treating coronavirus patients with remdesivir in a trial were recovering rapidly from severe symptoms. The publication cited a video it obtained where the trial results were discussed.
Boeing shares jumped about 7% after the airplane maker said it would resume production in the Seattle area as early as April 20.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 raced ahead 3.2% Friday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index picked up 1.6%.
Oil prices sank $1.55 to $18.32 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dipped $19.50 to $1,712.20 U.S. an ounce.
