Futures for Canada’s main stock index were little changed on Thursday as investors remained cautious ahead of domestic employment data, while a drop in oil and gold prices added to the pressure.
The TSX lopped off 2.52 points to end Tuesday at 20,275.76.
June futures on the S&P/TSX index were flat Thursday morning.
The Canadian dollar slid 0.1 cents to 74.22 cents U.S.
In company news, RBC Capital Markets upgraded Canadian National Railway to “outperform” from “sector perform.”
Lundin Gold reported an all-time high quarterly gold production in its first quarter update.
According to statistics Canada, the economy created 35,000 jobs in March, and the unemployment rate held steady at 5.0%, and the unemployment rate held steady at 5.0%.
Also, the IVEY PMI for March is due at 10 this morning.
Friday is, of course, Good Friday, and the markets will be closed.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dipped 8.67 points Wednesday to 621.37.
ON WALLSTREET
Stock futures were mixed Thursday as investors considered what the latest data suggested about the health of the broader economy.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials took on 30 points, or 0.1%, at 33,686.
Futures for the S&P 500 were in the green 2.75 points, or 0.1%, to 4,120.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite subsided 19.5 points, or 0.2%, to 13,060.25.
Those moves come as investors digest new data that shows signs of a potentially weakening labor market. The ADP private payrolls report released Wednesday showed job growth slowed in March. Meanwhile, a Tuesday report showed that the number of available positions fell below 10 million in February — a first in almost two years.
Over the past several months, investors had cheered signs of economic cooling on the hope that it could push the Federal Reserve to change course on its interest rate hiking campaign. But they are now wondering if the central bank has gone too far in its bid to cool inflation, tightening the economy to the point of an economic slowdown or recession.
Investors will watch Thursday for jobless claims data for more insights into the strength of the labour market. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard is also slated to speak in the morning in Arkansas.
Thursday will cap off a shortened trading week with the market closed for Good Friday. But investors will still follow Friday’s data on non-farm payrolls, the unemployment rate and hourly wages.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was down 1.2% Thursday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng returned from holiday with a gain of 0.3%.
Oil prices eked up eight cents to $80.69 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dipped 80 cents to $2,034.80 U.S. an ounce.