Canada’s main stock index futures rose on Friday, as oil prices gained on OPEC and its allies’ decision to hold discussions on extending oil output cuts on Saturday.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index faltered 47.24 points by the end of the session Thursday at 15,527.87
The Canadian dollar gathered 0.25 cents early Friday to 74.36 cents U.S.
June futures sprinted 0.8% Friday.
Bombardier said it would cut 2,500 jobs at its aviation unit and take a related charge of $40 million this year, as the COVID-19 pandemic hurts sales.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp said on Thursday it would tighten rules for offering mortgage insurance from July 1, after forecasting declines of between 9% and 18% in home prices over the next 12 months.
CIBC raised the price target on Autocanada to $9.00 from $5.00
CIBC cut the price target on Saputo to $38.00 from $40.00
CIBC cut the price target on Stingray Group to $7.00 from $8.00
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported, employment rose by 290,000 (or 1.8%) in May, while the number of people who worked less than half their usual hours dropped by 292,000 (8.6%).
The unemployment rate was 13.7% in May, the highest rate recorded since comparable data became available in 1976.
Elsewhere, the IVEY Purchasing Managers Index for May rolls in around 10 a.m. EDT from Western University.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 4.63 points to end Thursday at 562.41.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures were sharply higher Friday, continuing big gains on the week, as investors focused on states reopening and looked past dismal economic data.
Futures for Dow Jones Industrials surged 312 points, or 1.2%, early Friday, to 26,565.
Futures for the S&P 500 tacked on 23.5 points, to 3,134.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite gained 12.75 points, or 0.1%, to 9,639.
The Dow is up 3.5% this week. The S&P 500 is up 2.2% and the NASDAQ is up 1.3% through Thursday’s close.
Shares of airlines jumped in pre-market trading, adding to their big gains this week, as the industry added more summer flights. Casino stocks gained as Las Vegas began to open this week.
The gains came ahead of the U.S. Labor Department’s latest jobs report, scheduled for Friday at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect more than eight million jobs were lost in May while the unemployment rate surged to nearly 20%.
That decline would come after more than 20 million jobs were lost in April due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Investors are betting that May will mark the bottom for the economy as businesses begin to reopen.
Overseas, in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.7%, Friday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Sang index hiked 1.7%.
Oil prices moved upward $1.03 to $38.44 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices plummeted $25.20 to $1,702.20.