Stock futures pointed to a higher start for markets in this country on Thursday as oil prices broke above $50 per barrel for the first time in nearly seven months after a global supply glut showed signs of easing.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index climbed 100.89 points to close Wednesday at 14,053.74. The gauge, which has climbed 8% this year, hadn’t closed above 14,000 since August. June futures climbed 0.3% Thursday morning.
The Canadian dollar bolted up 0.48 cents to 77.28 cents early Thursday
Royal Bank of Canada said bad loans increased by $583 million, or 19%, in the second quarter from the quarter before, largely due to a rise in credit to oil firms that had turned sour.
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reported a 3.5% rise in quarterly profit, helped by growth in its retail and business banking division.
Barclays raised the target price on Bank of Montreal to $70.00 from $65.00
Canaccord Genuity raised the rating on Kinross Gold to buy from hold
NBF resumes coverage on Prometic Life Sciences with an outperform rating, and price target of $4.90
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada reported this morning that average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees were $960 in March, up 0.5% from the previous month. Compared with the same month the year before, average weekly earnings increased 0.7%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slumped 10.83 points, or 1.6%, Tuesday to 675.31.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures are pointing up, indicating there's still momentum in the markets after two consecutive days of strong gains.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials are gaining 38 points, or 0.2%, to 17,855, while futures for the S&P 500 tacked on 3.25 points, or 0.2%, to 2,090.5. NASDAQ futures gained 8.5 points, or 0.2%, to 4,483.25.
Shares in Yahoo are recovering pre-market after tumbling by 5.2% on Wednesday. Investors sold off Yahoo shares after Alibaba disclosed that it is being investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over its accounting practices. Yahoo owns a large stake in the Chinese giant.
Sears Holdings, Dollar General, Dollar Tree and Abercrombie & Fitch are all reporting quarterly results ahead of the open.
Gamestop will report after the close.
The U.S. Department of Labor will release its latest weekly initial unemployment claims this morning.
Elsewhere, the National Association of Realtors will reveal its monthly pending home sales data for April at 10 a.m. ET. The release comes as new home sales data from April showed the market hit its highest level since 2008.
European markets are mixed in afternoon trading.
Asian markets ended the day with mixed results.
Oil prices added 50 cents to $50.06 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices gained $1.72 to $1,226.13 U.S. an ounce.
