Canadian stock futures fell slightly on Thursday as investors worried about further monetary tightening by the U.S. Federal Reserve, while gains in commodity prices limited large losses.
The TSX gained 70.99 points to finish Wednesday at 20,346.53
March futures on the S&P/TSX index slid 0.1% Thursday morning.
The Canadian dollar eked up 0.03 cents to 72.49 cents U.S.
Among individual stocks, Panama's government and miner First Quantum Minerals agreed on the final text for a contract to operate a key copper mine.
Credit Suisse upgraded Nuvei Corp to "outperform" from "neutral".
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange shed 1.58 points Wednesday to 625.23.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures dipped Thursday as traders continue to process comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and await key employment data.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials dropped 23 points, or 0.1%, early Thursday to 32,790.
Futures for the S&P 500 subsided 11.25 points, or 0.3%, to 3,983.75.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite moved lower 66 points, or 0.5%, to 12,162.25.
Those moves come a day after Powell reiterated his warning message to lawmakers that the central bank may raise interest rates higher than previously anticipated. However, he emphasized that no decision has been made yet regarding the March meeting.
Shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club rose more than 4% in thin pre-market trading after the company posted quarterly results that beat analyst expectations.
BJ’s earned $1 per share, topping a StreetAccount forecast of 88 cents per share. Revenue also beat estimates, coming in at $4.93 billion.
Jefferies analyst John Colantuoni double downgraded Etsy to underperform from buy. Etsy shares fell more than 6% in the premarket.
Investors on Thursday will be looking at the jobless claims report, which is due at 8:30 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr is also scheduled to speak on cryptocurrencies.
Investors will get more indication on the state of the economy Friday, when the U.S. government releases its monthly jobs report. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect the U.S. economy to have added 225,000 jobs in February.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index recovered 0.6%, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng tailed off 0.6%.
Oil prices gained back 21 cents to $76.87 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices brightened $3.80 to $1,822.40 U.S. an ounce.
