Canadian stock index futures inched up on Thursday, as gold prices gained ground on easing inflation fears, while investors awaited the U.S. payrolls report for clues on the Federal Reserve's policy path.
Futures were mostly flat Thursday. Markets were closed Wednesday for Canada Day.
The TSX Composite Index gained 33.17 points to conclude Tuesday at 34,856.99. The index was still on track to register its longest quarterly winning streak since January 1995-October 1996.
Since New Year’s Eve, the index has popped 3,144.23 points, or 9.9%.
The Canadian dollar inched higher 0.02 cents at 70.35 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 5.81 points to 896.90. So far this year, however, the index has lost 90 points, or 9.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures were little changed on Thursday as investors awaited key employment data that could influence the Federal Reserve’s decision-making on monetary policy.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials acquired 58 points, or 0.1%, to 52,726.
Futures for the S&P 500 index captured 8.25 points, or 0.1%, to 7,551.75.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite hiked 55 points, or 0.2%, to 30,149.25.
Alphabet, the parent company of Google, was lower by 1% after the subsidiary lost a European antitrust case, where a court upheld Google’s fine of 4.1 billion euros ($4.67 billion).
The fine comes from a 2018 decision by the European Commission to punish Google for what it saw as anticompetitive practices by the company through giving its own applications unfair advantages in Android products.
The June jobs report was set for release Thursday morning. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect 115,000 jobs were added last month. That, however, would be a decline from the 172,000 jobs created in May. The unemployment rate is forecast to have stayed at 4.3%.
The data comes after the major U.S. averages ended Wednesday’s session lower, as investors pared positions in chipmakers. Moreover, the Global Manufacturing PMI for June was set for release at 9:30 a.m. EDT
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 plummeted 2.5% Thursday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng was positive 0.8%.
Oil prices gave way $1.43 to 67.15 cents U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slumped seven dollars to $4,075.40 U.S an ounce.
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