Futures for Canada's main stock index rose on Monday buoyed by firmer oil and bullion prices, as signs of pickup in demand made investors hopeful of a speedy economic recovery.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index stumbled 320.18 points, or 1.8%, to finish Friday and the week at 17,337.02, a decline on the week of 509 points, or 2.85%.
The Canadian dollar inched up 0.01 cents to 78.10 cents U.S.
March futures zoomed 1.3% Monday.
Canada's northern territories have reportedly achieved much higher COVID-19 vaccination rates than its more populous provinces despite geographic challenges in a sign that prioritizing vaccine rollout in indigenous and rural communities is paying off.
BMO raises price target on Parkland Corp. to $50.00 from $45.00
Scotiabank cut the target price Premium Brands Holdings to $128.00 from $131.00
TD Securities cuts target price on Air Canada to $26.00 from $28.00
Markit Economics is to reveal its Purchasing Managers Index for November at 9:30 a.m. EST.
Elsewhere, Canada, despite being the world's biggest canola grower, is running short of the oilseed six months before the next harvest, with strong export demand driving prices to nearly 13-year highs last week.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange handed back 1.87 points to 932.73 for a drop on the week of 25.4 points, or 2.68%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stock futures rose in early trading on Monday as Wall Street appeared to shake off concerns about speculative retail trading mania that largely drove the market’s worst weekly selloff since October.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials popped 227 points, or 0.8%, to 30,106.
Futures for the S&P 500 grabbed 36.5 points, or 1%, at 3,741.75.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite jumped 142.75 points, or 1.1%, to 13,054.
GameStop, the brick-and-mortar video game retailer that has been the center of attention on Wall Street, fell just about 2% in pre-market trading. Last week, the popular stock among retailer investors on Reddit forum WallStreetBets soared 400% amid extreme trading volume and volatility.
All three major averages slipped more than 3% last week for their worst weekly performance since October. The Dow and S&P also posted losses for January — the first negative month in four — although the NASDAQ did manage to post a gain for the month.
Many on Wall Street were spooked by a frenzy of activity by retail investors in heavily-shorted stocks including GameStop and AMC Entertainment, which fueled concerns about the overall health of the market. Goldman Sachs noted that the current short squeeze is the worst in 25 years.
AMC jumped another 18% in pre-market trading after a 277% rally last week.
The Reddit boom also seems to be spreading to other areas of the market. Futures contracts for silver surged 11%, the biggest one-day jump in 11 years. The Reddit chat room had multiple active threads dedicated to silver on Sunday night. The phrase ”#silversqueeze” was also trending on Twitter.
Still, some strategists believe it’s unlikely that the impact of the short squeezes will ripple through Wall Street and derail the new bull market.
Elsewhere, another busy week of earnings is coming up with 99 S&P companies set to report. Alphabet, Amazon, Alibaba, Snap, Exxon, Biogen, Pfizer and Chipotle are among the names set to report this coming week. Thursday is the busiest day of the earnings season.
Meanwhile, a group of 10 Republican senators sent President Joe Biden a letter on Sunday, urging him to consider a smaller, scaled-down Covid-19 relief proposal. His current plan calls for $1.9 trillion in additional fiscal stimulus.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 jumped 1.6%, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index regained 2.2%.
Oil prices acquired 38 cents to $52.58 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices triumphed $17.00 to $1,864.30 U.S.
