Futures for Canada's main stock index pointed towards a higher opening on Thursday, mirroring a rebound on the Wall Street, although gains were limited by weaker commodities
The S&P/TSX Composite faltered 69.41 points to end Wednesday at 21,205.16.
The Canadian dollar nicked higher 0.11 cents to 80.12 cents U.S.
March futures jumped 0.4% Thursday.
Egypt’s petroleum ministry has signed crude oil and petroleum agreements worth $506 million for exploration and production in its eastern desert and western desert regions with TransGlobe Energy Corp and Pharos Energy.
National Bank of Canada raised the target price on CAE to $45.00 from $44.00
CIBC raised the target price on First Quantum Minerals to $40.00 from $37.00
TD Securities cut the target price on Linamar to $98.00 from $100.00
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange regained 10.01 points, or 1.1%, Wednesday to 900.87.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures posted a solid gain Thursday morning, with NASDAQ futures up nearly 1% the day after dipping into correction territory.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials regained 100 points, or 0.3%, to 35,010.
Futures for the S&P 500 jumped 15.75 points, or 0.3%, to 4,540.
Futures for the NASDAQ progressed 105.25 points, or 0.7%, to 15,138.75.
United Airlines shares fell about 1% in pre-market trading after the company reported its quarterly results and warned that omicron has dented bookings and will delay its pandemic recovery.
In early earnings results, Dow component Travelers posted beats on the top and bottom lines while American Airlines also beat estimates but lowered guidance. Travelers rose 4% in pre-market trading and American Airlines add about 1.2%.
Futures held their ground even as government bond yields again edged higher, part of a market repricing as the Federal Reserve gets set to tighten monetary policy.
The central bank meets next week, with markets indicating just a slight chance of action on interest rates. However, traders have fully priced in the first of what is expected to be four 0.25 percentage point hikes through 2022.
Ford Motor shares dropped 2.5% in premarket trading. The stock is coming off a meteoric surge in 2021 on hopes for its electric vehicle development, but Jefferies analysts said in a downgrade that the rally, which sent shares up 130% for the year, has gotten overdone.
Netflix is the big name to watch Thursday. The streaming giant is set to report its quarterly results after the closing bell.
On the economy, the Dow Jones estimate for claims in the week ended Jan. 15 is 225,000, slightly less than the 230,000 from the previous period. Home sales for December are expected to total 6.48 million, a modest 0.3% increase from November, which had posted a gain of 1.9%.
The Philadelphia Fed also will be reporting its monthly manufacturing survey for January, which is forecast to register a reading of 18.5%, which represents the difference between companies reporting expansion vs. those seeing contraction. Earlier this month, the New York Fed survey plunged unexpectedly to -0.5%, or a slight contraction, representing the omicron impact on business.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 moved up 1.1% Thursday while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong went skyward 3.4%.
Oil prices 62 cents to $86.34 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dipped $2.50 to $1,840.70 U.S. an ounce.
