Futures for Canada’s main stock index barely moved on Friday as cautious investors awaited key domestic unemployment data, while the third-quarter earnings season kicked off on Wall Street.
The TSX Composite Index gained 77.36 points to close Thursday at 24,247.63, yet another record high.
December futures were off 0.01% Friday.
The Canadian dollar was down 0.15 cents to 72.59 cents U.S.
In corporate news, Canadian fashion company Aritzia late Thursday reported second-quarter revenue that beat analysts’ expectations.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada said the economy created 47,000 jobs in September while the unemployment rate fell 0.1 percentage points to 6.5%Meantime, August building permits decreased by $858.1 million, or 7.0%, to $11.5 billion.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange took on 4.97 points Thursday to 595.81.
ON WALLSTREET
Stock futures were little changed on Friday morning, as investors looked ahead to a wholesale inflation reading. JPMorgan Chase shares rose as the bank kicked of the third-quarter reporting season.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials gained 15 points to 42,761.
Futures for the S&P 500 slid 5.25 points, or 0.1% to 5,823.75.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite Index shed 61.75 points, or 0.3%, to 20,368.
The major averages are heading into the final day of the week with modest gains. The S&P 500 is up 0.5% week to date, while the Dow is toting a 0.2% gain. The NASDAQ is the outperformer of the three, up 0.8% in the period.
JPMorgan Chase shares gained after the bank topped profit and revenue expectations for the third quarter. The bank reported $4.37 earnings per share for the quarter, well ahead of the consensus $4.01 estimate from analysts polled by LSEG. JPMorgan was up about 2% in premarket trading.
Wells Fargo’s results however fell short. The bank reported $20.37 billion in revenue for the third quarter, just below the $20.42 billion estimate from analysts polled by LSEG. Wells Fargo shares were higher nonetheless, up 3%.
Fresh data issued on Thursday raised investors’ fears that inflation wasn’t cooling off quickly enough. September’s consumer price index rose 0.2% on a monthly basis and 2.4% from a year earlier. Those results topped the 0.1% monthly advance and 2.3% year-over-year gain economists polled by Dow Jones anticipated.
Indeed, another catalyst awaits on Friday morning: the producer price index, a measure of wholesale prices. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect the PPI index to have risen 0.1% in September on a monthly basis. Excluding food and energy costs, they forecast a 0.2% advance.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gathered 0.6% Friday, while in Hong Kong, markets were closed for holiday.
Oil prices dipped 53 cents to $75.32 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices jumped $17.60 to $2,656.90