Canada's main stock index hovered near a record high on Thursday, as investors awaited employment data that could influence the Bank of Canada's September interest-rate decision.
The TSX Composite Index gained 95.48 points to begin Thursday afternoon trading at 28,846.84.
The Canadian dollar sagged 0.2 cents to 72.30 cents U.S.
Techs led the parade of winners, on Descartes' gains of $8.80, or 6.4%, to $146.00, after the supply chain technology provider beat quarterly revenue estimates.
On the macroeconomic scene, Statistics Canada reported Canada's merchandise exports rose 0.9% in July, while imports were down 0.7%. As a result, Canada's merchandise trade deficit with the world narrowed from $6.0 billion in June to $4.9 billion in July.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange lost 8.4 points, or 1%, to 838.67.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were still positive by noon hour, information technology up better by 1.3%, while industrials and telecoms each surging 0.8%.
The four laggards were weighed most by health-care and gold, retreating 0.5% each, and materials, sliding 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose on Thursday as traders awaited the August jobs report following a weak private payrolls report.
The Dow Jones Industrials leaped 215.88 points to move into Thursday afternoon at 45,487.11, restrained by a 5% fall in Salesforce shares on the heels of the software company posting a disappointing revenue outlook.
The S&P 500 index gained 27.44 points to 6,475.70.
The NASDAQ was 78.34 points in the green to 21,576.12.
Gap is looking to sell beauty products as a new line of revenue, the Wall Street Journal said in a Thursday report. Gap shares jumped more than 4% on the news.
The ADP private payrolls report showed an increase of 54,000 in August. Economists polled by Dow Jones had expected private employers to add 75,000 jobs. The figure is also less than the revised 106,000 in July.
The reaction was limited as investors reasoned that the recent ADP data was weak enough for the Federal Reserve to justify a September rate cut, but not soft enough to herald a recession.
Traders increased their bets that the central bank would cut on Sept. 17, with fed funds futures trading following ADP’s report now indicating a 97.6% chance of a rate cut. That’s up from 96.6% a day ago.
Jobless claims for the week ended Aug. 30 also increased to 237,000. That number came in above estimates and marked an 8,000 gain from the prior week, providing more evidence of slowing in the labor market.
Meanwhile, August’s ISM non-manufacturing PMI reading came in at 52.0, slightly better than the Dow Jones forecast for 50.8.
Those reports come ahead of Friday’s big jobs report, which is expected to post a 75,000 non-farm-payroll gain for last month, according to economists polled by Dow Jones.
Traders are also turning their eyes to Washington for the latest on trade, after President Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court to quickly rule on an appeal that would overturn lower court decisions that deemed most tariffs illegal.
Prices for 10-year Treasury registered higher Thursday, pushing down yields to 4.18% from Wednesday’s 4.22%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dwindled 63 cents to $63.34 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices flopped $22.90 at $3,612.60 U.S. an ounce.
