Futures for Canada’s main stock index slipped on Monday as investors turned cautious ahead of the Bank of Canada’s interest rate decision and more economic data later this week.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index enjoyed a resurgence of 197.41 points to close Friday at 22,269.12. On the week, the index lost nearly 52 points, or 0.23%.
The Canadian dollar slid 0.12 cents to 73.30 cents U.S.
June futures were down 0.2% Monday.
The main event for the week would be the BoC’s rate decision on Wednesday. The central bank is expected to trim interest rates to 4.75%, according to three-quarters of economists in a Reuters poll that showed three further cuts this year, with the last one hanging on a knife’s edge.
In individual stocks, RBC cut the rating of Canada Western Bank to ‘sector perform’ from ‘outperform’, while National Bank of Canada made a similar rating change on Enerflex Ltd.
On the economic ledger, the Markit Canada Manufacturing PMI for May is due around 9:30 a.m. EDT.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dipped 4.09 points Friday to 610.87. On the week, however, the index gathered nearly three points, or 0.48%.
ON WALLSTREET
S&P 500 futures rose slightly on Monday as investors tried to carry the market’s strong May momentum into the new month.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials inched up five points to 38,786.
Futures for the S&P 500 picked up 11.75 points, or 0.2%, at 5,307.25.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite gathered 95.25 points, or 0.5%, to 18,686.25.
Nvidia shares ticked 3% higher in the premarket.
Wall Street is coming off a strong May, with all three major averages notching their sixth positive month in seven. The NASDAQ Composite rose 6.9%, its best month since November 2023.
However, the rally seemed to lose steam near the end of the month. The three averages all closed May more than 1% below their record highs, even with the Dow adding more than 500 points on Friday. The NASDAQ fell 1.1% last week as chip stocks, including Nvidia, stumbled.
GameStop shares were up more than 74% amid speculation that Keith Gill, who inspired the 2021 short squeeze, could have a big position in the video game retailer.
Gill, who goes by DeepF——Value on Reddit and Roaring Kitty on YouTube and X, posted a screenshot of what could be his portfolio, showing more than 5 million GameStop shares worth $115.7 million. The image also showed 120,000 call options in GameStop.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 jumped 1.1% Monday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index leaped 1.8%.
Oil prices forged ahead eight cents to $77.07 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $4.40 to $2,350.20 U.S. an ounce.
