Stocks in Canada’s largest centre were set to recover on Thursday, a day after TSX posted its worst day in over four months over worries about surging coronavirus cases in Europe and the United States.
The TSX plunged 434.37 points, or 2.7%, to close Wednesday at 15,586.57.
The Canadian dollar skidded 0.15 cents Thursday at 74.98 cents U.S.
December futures gained 0.6% Thursday.
Former American retail whiz J.C. Penney Co said on Wednesday it has entered an asset purchase agreement with Brookfield Asset
Management, Simon Property Group and a majority of the company's first lien lenders.
RBC cuts price target on Cogeco Communications to $114.00 from $119.00
Citigroup cut the rating on Suncor Energy to neutral from buy.
CIBC cut the price target on Acadian Timber to $18.00 from $19.00
On the economic front, Statistics Canada said the number of employees receiving pay or benefits from their employer rose by 303,200 (or 2.0%) in August.
This followed large increases in July (759,500, or 5.3%) and June (665,500, or 4.9%), and brought the total payroll employment change since February to a decrease of 1.6 million (-9.5%).
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dipped 30.17 points, or 4.2%, to limp to Wednesday’s finish at 677.93.
ON WALLSTREET
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 turned negative on Thursday as Wall Street struggled to recover from the steep losses earlier this week.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials dropped 99 points, or 0.4%, to 26,310.
Futures for the S&P 500 doffed 2.75 points, or 0.1%, at 3,260.75.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite recovered 24 points, or 0.2%, however, o 11,156.75.
The Dow is down more than 6% this week and the S&P 500 is off by more than 5%, on pace for their worst weeks since March.
The market decline came as investors prepare for a massive day of corporate earnings on Thursday. Moderna, Yum Brands and Comcast, are scheduled to report before the bell.
The afternoon will bring quarterly results from many of the world’s largest tech companies, including Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google-parent Alphabet. Combined, those companies have a market cap of more than $5 trillion.
Shares of Facebook and Twitter, which also reports results on Thursday afternoon, moved higher in extended trading after fellow social media stock Pinterest reported strong growth in revenue and monthly active users. Shares of Pinterest rocketed 28% higher in after-hours trading.
U.S. gross domestic product for the third quarter is out Thursday morning. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect growth of 32% on an annualized basis, a huge comeback that still leaves the economy far below where it was before the coronavirus hit.
Apple, Amazon, Alphabet and Facebook, which all report earnings on Thursday, were higher in pre-market trading.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.4% Thursday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index scaled back 0.5%.
Oil prices dipped $1.85 to $35.54 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slumped $7.60 to $1,888.70.
