Futures for stocks in Canada’s largest centre fell on Thursday, dragged by weaker bullion prices, with investors awaiting U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's speech at the virtual Jackson Hole conference.
The TSX popped 172.49 points, or 1%, to end Wednesday at 16,789.97.
The Canadian dollar sank 0.03 cents Thursday to 76.07 cents U.S.
September futures faded 0.3% Thursday.
Credit Suisse raised the rating on National Bank of Canada to neutral from underperform
Credit Suisse raises the target price Royal Bank of Canada to $104.00 from $103.00
RBC cut the target price Knight Therapeutics to $8.00 from $9.50
In the economic docket, Statistics Canada reported that the number of employees receiving pay or benefits from their employer, measured in the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours, rose by 666,500, or 4.9%, in June.
The agency goes on to say the numbers follows three consecutive months of declines—March (-0.9 million), April (-1.9 million) and May (-0.5 million)—and brought the total payroll employment change since February to a decrease of 2.7 million (-15.7%).
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange jumped 15.64 points, or 2.2%, Wednesday to 729.87
ON WALLSTREET
Futures contracts tied to the major U.S. stock indexes slipped in pre-market trading Thursday morning as Wall Street turned its attention to an upcoming address from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
Futures for Dow Jones Industrials dropped 34 points, or 0.1%, early Thursday, to 28,278.
Futures for the S&P 500 sagged 5.5 points, or 0.2%, at 3,474.75.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite retreated 27.25 points, or 0.2%, to 11,964.
Thursday’s trading is likely to be driven in large part by comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who is expected at 9:10 a.m. ET to introduce a new pandemic-era tool to combat the economic impact of COVID-19 and foster inflation in the U.S. The Fed’s annual symposium will be held virtually this year instead of the usual locale of Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
The central bank has for years tried to keep inflation at 2%, a rate of price increase that policymakers consider both manageable and indicative of a healthy economy. But ever since the financial crisis, inflation in the U.S. has more often than not lagged the Fed’s target.
Shares of Abbott Laboratories jumped 8% after the company won authorization for a $5 rapid coronavirus test.
Investors will also pore through the government’s latest report on jobless claims on Thursday. The U.S. Labor Department will release figures Thursday on how many Americans filed for unemployment benefits for the first time during the week ended August 22.
Economists polled by Dow Jones expect some one million workers filed initial claims last week. That would be a deceleration from the prior week’s print of 1.1 million first-time claims.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 retreated 0.4% Thursday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index docked 0.8%.
Oil prices dipped 23 cents to $43.16 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices fell $5.10 to $1,947.40.
