Futures for Canada’s main stock index inched higher on Thursday as oil prices strengthened, while investors await key U.S. inflation data that could offer further cues on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s rate hike plans.
The S&P/TSX Composite raced 227.01 points, or 1%, to greet the closing bell Wednesday at 21,604.19
The Canadian dollar tacked on 0.01 cents to 78.90 cents U.S.
March futures squeezed higher 0.1% Thursday
Manulife Financial and Sun Life Financial narrowly beat quarterly earnings expectations on Wednesday, driven by strong growth in their asset management units, but Sun Life warned that the spread of the Omicron variant would impact first-quarter earnings.
Still with Sun Life National Bank of Canada cut its rating on the stock to sector perform from outperform
Veritas Research cut the rating on Laurentian Bank of Canada to sell
Canaccord Genuity raised the rating on Wildbrain Ltd. to buy from hold
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange jumped 16.05 points, or 1.9%, Wednesday to 875.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures retreated on Thursday morning after a key inflation report showed a faster-than-expected rise in prices.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials gained 67 points, or 0.2%, to 35,707.
Futures for the S&P 500 fell 1.75 points to 4,576
Futures for the NASDAQ slid 14.75 points, or 0.1%, to 15,023.50.
Shares of Dow 30 component Disney jumped nearly 8% in pre-market trading after the company reported a quarterly earnings beat and a doubling of revenue from its parks, experiences and consumer products division. Uber gained 5.75% in extended trading after reporting a revenue beat and a bounce back from omicron-induced challenges.
Elsewhere, Twitter shares also rose pre-market, jumping 4% after the company announced a $4 billion stock buyback program. Coca-Cola shares were up nearly 2% after the soft drink giant reported earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street estimates.
Investors were preparing for Thursday’s Consumer Price Index report, which was expected to show headline inflation for January at the highest level since 1982. Headline inflation including food and energy costs was expected to rise by 0.4%, or 7.2% year-over-year.
Economists will be watching to see whether the monthly gain shows that the pace of price increases could be ready to turn a corner.
Early pandemic winners of 2022, including Shopify and Etsy, as well as stay-at-home stocks like DocuSign and Zoom, were some of the biggest winners Wednesday.
Last month Netflix reported disappointing quarterly earnings, which added to investors’ skittishness towards tech stocks and the volatility in trading that followed.
Twitter, Coca-Cola and Kellogg are scheduled to report earnings before the opening bell Thursday. Expedia, Affirm and Zillow will report after the closing bell.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 gathered 0.4% Thursday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng took on 0.4%.
Oil prices gained $1.08 to $90.74 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dropped $5.40 to $1,831.20 U.S. an ounce.