Futures tied to Canada’s main stock index climbed on Friday as gold and copper prices rose, while investors awaited crucial domestic and U.S. employment data to gauge the trajectory of interest-rate cuts in both economies.
The TSX Composite Index gained 20.35 points to close Thursday at 22,244.02.
The Canadian dollar took on 0.03 cents to 73.48 cents U.S.
September futures were up 0.3% Friday.
In corporate news, the Canadian government approved Switzerland-based miner Glencore’s $6.93-billion takeover of Teck Resources’ steelmaking coal unit with strict conditions to preserve jobs.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reports the economy lost 1,400 jobs in June, boosting the unemployment rate 0.2 percentage points to 6.4%.
Later this morning (about 10 a.m. EDT) IVEY School of Business releases its PMI report for June.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange regained 3.61 points to conclude Thursday at 579.88.
ON WALLSTREET
S&P 500 futures were little changed as investors readied for Friday’s closely watched jobs report.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials slid 26 points, or 0.1%, to 39,610.
Futures for the much-broader index eked up 0.25 points at 5,590.50.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite advanced 23 points, or 0.1% to 20,434.50.
The three major indexes are on track to finish the holiday-shortened trading week up. The NASDAQ gained 2.5% and S&P 500 has climbed more than 1.4% in the week. Both closed at all-time highs and notched new intraday records on Wednesday. The Dow has lagged this week, adding around 0.5%
Markets in the U.S. were closed for Independence Day.
Those moves come as traders geared up for the widely monitored labour data due Friday morning. Economists polled by Dow Jones are forecasting nonfarm payroll adds of 200,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate to hold steady at 4%. They also expect hourly wages to climb 0.3% from May for an annualized gain of 3.9%.
The report comes as traders consider the latest economic data pointing to softening in the economy — and what it means for the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decisions going forward.
ADP figures released Wednesday showed less private payroll growth than anticipated in June, while weekly jobless claims came in higher than economists forecast. On top of that, a reading of the service sector from the Institute for Supply Management unexpectedly indicated a contraction.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 1.28 points Friday, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong sank 1.3%.
Oil prices edged up 0.01 cents to $83.89 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gathered $4.90 to $2,374.30