Futures for Canada’s main stock index rose on Thursday, after crude prices gained and as sentiment on Wall Street was lifted by upbeat earnings from Facebook parent Meta Platform.
The S&P/TSX Composite gained 53.42 points to greet the closing bell Wednesday at 20,744.23
June futures faltered 0.7% on Thursday.
The Canadian dollar settled 0.36 cents to 77.67 cents U.S.
ATB Capital Markets raised the target price on Cenovus Energy to $33.00 from $31.00
RBC raises target price on Loblaw Companies to $133.00 from $120.00
RBC cut the target price on Saputo to $35.00 from $37.00
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported the number of employees receiving pay or benefits from their employer—measured in the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours as payroll employment—rose by 142,900 (+0.8%) in February.
Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said Wednesday this country’s economy is overheating, creating domestic inflationary pressures, and higher interest rates are needed to cool things down.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange retreated 3.59 points to 808.73.
ON WALLSTREET
Stock futures jumped in early trading Thursday as the market tried to recover some ground lost during this month’s selloff, and investors reacted positively to earnings from Meta Platforms.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials regained 202 points, or 0.6%, to 33,428.
Futures for the S&P 500 jumped 50 points, or 1.2%, to 4,230.25.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite Index popped 219.5 points, or 1.7%, to 13,228.50.
The S&P 500 was down 7.7% for April — on pace for its biggest monthly decline since March 2020. The NASDAQ Composite has lost more than 12% since the start of April and is headed for its worst one-month performance since October 2008. The Dow has been the relative outperformer, losing about 4% this month.
Shares of Meta surged more than 14% following a beat on earnings, a sign that investors may see signs of relief in the beaten-up tech sector.
Shares were down 48% on the year heading into the results.
Meanwhile, shares of Qualcomm gained more than 6% in extended trading on the back of strong earnings, while PayPal rose roughly 3% despite issuing weak guidance for the second quarter.
McDonald’s, Merck, Eli Lilly and Southwest were all higher in early morning trading after better-than-expected quarterly reports.
In Asia, the Nikkei 225 in Japan gained 1.8% Thursday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index shot higher 1.7%.
Oil prices fell 14 cents to $101.88 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices moved ahead $6.70 to $1,895.40 U.S.