Futures for Canada's main stock index were muted on Friday as commodity prices dipped, while investors awaited U.S. jobs data to understand for clues on the Federal Reserve's future interest rate moves.
The TSX finished slightly in the red, 10.61 points, to close Thursday at 20,740.44.
March futures on the S&P/TSX index were flat Friday morning.
The Canadian dollar fell back 0.2 cents to 74.90 cents U.S.
In earnings, methanol producer Methanex reported better-than-expected quarterly results overnight.
OpenText Corp also reported its quarterly numbers, beating expectations on both revenue and earnings.
On the research front, CIBC cut Lightspeed Commerce's rating to "neutral" from "outperform".
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange eked up 0.85 points Thursday to 630.68.
ON WALLSTREET
Stock futures slid Friday after several high-profile earnings misses cast doubt on the recent market rally. Traders are also bracing from key U.S. labour data.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials slumped 84 points, or 0.3%, early Friday to 34,013.
Futures for the S&P 500 dropped 27.75 points, or 0.7%, to 4,164.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite handed back 160 points, or 1.3%, to 12,686.75.
Struggles of major tech stocks weighed on the market. Apple and Google-parent Alphabet both missed estimates on the top and bottom lines for their December quarters. Alphabet’s stock fell more than 3% in premarket trading, while Apple shares lost 4.3%. Amazon’s stock also dipped about 4.2% after the e-commerce giant’s report.
The earnings picture wasn’t much better outside of tech, as Ford and Starbucks also missed estimates. Ford stocks fell 5.5% and Starbucks lost 2.3%.
The moves in futures threatened to erase some large gains for the market on Thursday. The NASDAQ rose 3.25% for its best day since November and is on track for a fifth-straight winning week. The S&P 500 gained 1.5%.
The Dow, however, finished Thursday slightly lower, weighed down by health-care stocks, but is still positive for the week.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index tacked on 0.4%, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng dipped 1.4%.
Oil prices fell 19 cents to $75.69 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices stumbled $1.40 to $1,929.40 U.S. an ounce.
