Futures for equities in Canada’s largest market rose on Friday, supported by oil prices reaching their highest in a year on economic revival hopes ahead of the monthly jobs report and as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies stuck to the supply tightening policy.
The S&P/TSX Composite gained 126.06 points to conclude Thursday’s session at 18,041.97.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.16 cents to 78.14 cents U.S.
March futures gained 0.2% Friday.
Evercore ISI raised the price target on Canada Goose Holdings to $60 from $40
Scotiabank raised the price target on Lightspeed POS to $76 from $55
It’s a busy day on the macroeconomic scene, with Statistics Canada informing us the economy lost 213,000 jobs during January, thus boosting the unemployment rate to 9.4%. Losses were entirely in part-time work and were concentrated in the Quebec and Ontario retail trade sectors.
At the same time, the nation’s number crunchers reported Canada's merchandise exports rose 1.5% in December, while imports fell 2.3%. As a result, Canada's merchandise trade deficit with the world narrowed from $3.6 billion in November to $1.7 billion in December, the lowest deficit since June 2020.
Later this morning, (about 10 a.m. EST) Western University’s IVEY Business School is out with its Purchasing Managers Index for January.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada will succeed in inoculating its population despite "momentary disruptions" in the supply of COVID-19 vaccines and is working closely with the new U.S. administration to fight the disease.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange stayed in the happy zone Thursday, growing 19.2 points, or 2%, to 998.14.
ON WALLSTREET
Stock futures rose early Friday following a four-day winning streak on Wall Street as investors awaited a closely watched January jobs report.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials gained 129 points, or 0.4%, to 31,079.
Futures for the S&P 500 jumped 15.75 points, or 0.4%, at 3,880.25.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite picked up 35.25 points, or 0.3%, to 13,582.75.
With four straight days of gains, the major averages are on pace their best weekly performance since November. The blue-chip Dow has gained 3.6%, while the S&P 500 has hiked 4.2%, and the NASDAQ has risen 5.4%. The market rebounded from last week’s sharp losses as the speculative trading frenzy dissipated.
Wall Street is in the middle of a solid earnings season. Of the 184 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings to date, 84.2% topped analyst expectations
As in Canada, jobs provided the story on U.S. markets. The Labor Department declared the stateside economy added 49,000 jobs in January. The jobless rate fell to 6.3%.
Economists expected 50,000 payrolls added last month, after a decline of 140,000 in December, according to Dow Jones. The unemployment rate was expected to stay at 6.7%.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 vaulted 1.5%, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index gained 0.6%.
Oil prices progressed 48 cents to $56.71 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices added $6.70 to $1,797.90 U.S.
