Futures Pointed Upward

Futures for Canada's main stock index were higher on Friday as gold prices rose, while investors awaited a reading on employment data to gauge the pace of economic recovery in the country.

The TSX remained negative 19.76 points to close Thursday at 19,290.98

The Canadian dollar lost 0.18 cents Friday to 81.69 cents U.S.

June futures listed higher 0.4% Thursday.

Cenovus Energy swung to a first-quarter profit from the previous three-month period, as global crude recovered on the back of easing COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine rollouts.

Air Canada reported its fifth-straight quarterly loss despite securing a $5.9-billion government aid package, as rising coronavirus infections in parts of the world and travel restrictions limited traffic.

Berenberg raised the target price on Wheaton Precious Metals to $49 from $47

Scotiabank raised the target price on AutoCanada to $55.00 from $46.00

RBC raised the target price on Imperial Oil to $39.00 from $35.00

On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that the economy lost 207,000 jobs in April and the unemployment rate rose 0.6 percentage points to 8.1%.

This followed cumulative employment gains of 562,000 over the previous two months.

Later this morning, Western University’s IVEY School of Business will be out with its Purchasing Managers’ Index for April.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange turned lower 1.92 points to close Thursday at 943.77.

ON WALLSTREET

Stock futures rose on Friday as investors awaited the highly anticipated jobs report to assess the pace of the economic recovery.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials gained 83 points, or 0.2%, to 34,525.

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Futures for the S&P 500 tacked on eight points, or 0.2%, to 4,202.25.

Futures for the NASDAQ Composite index added 27.75 points, or 0.2%, to 13,625.25.

For the week, the major stock indexes were mixed as of Thursday’s close. The Dow is up about 2%, the S&P 500 had gained 0.49% and the NASDAQ had shed more than 2.3%.

The U.S. Labor Department will release April’s jobs report at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect one million payrolls to have been added last month and the unemployment rate is expected to have fallen to 5.8% from 6%.

April’s job report will carry extra importance as the Federal Reserve maintains a zero rates policy and other easing measures in the face of a recovering economy. As marketplace concerns about inflation brew, some on Wall Street believe an exceptionally strong jobs market report could prove an early sign for the Fed that conditions are finally returning to healthy.

In early trading Friday, stocks linked to the reopening of the economy were gaining. Shares of Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line holdings were up about 2% each in premarket trading. Expedia Group was also higher.

Shares of Roku rallied more than 8% in pre-market trading after the streaming company blew past expectations with its first-quarter results.

Roku posted adjusted earnings of 54 cents per share, compared to an estimated loss of 13 cents per share. Revenue rose 79% from a year ago and exceeded expectations.

Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 eked up 0.1%, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index eased back 0.1% Friday.

Oil prices docked 23 cents to $64.48 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices raced $2.70 to $1,818.40 U.S.