After falling in the past four sessions, Canadian stocks are poised to rebound at open Friday supported by firm commodities and positive cues from the global equity markets. Global stocks recovered today after falling yesterday in a knee-jerk reaction to the comments by European Central Bank president, that had disappointed investors. However, traders now took a more optimistic view of the ECB's stance on bond buying to overcome the euro zone debt crisis.
U.S. stock futures were pointing to a higher open.
On Thursday, the S&P/TSX Composite Index extended losses for a fourth session, dipping 112.03 points or 0.96 percent to 11,506.50.
The price of crude oil was paring recent losses amid tight supplies in Europe due to maintenance work in the North Sea and fear of tensions in the Middle East are supporting prices, analysts opined. Crude for September gained $1.15 to $88.28 a barrel.
The price of gold moving higher Friday morning as the U.S. dollar was trading lower amid the release of non-farm payrolls report. Gold for December was up $11.30 to $1,602.00 an ounce.
In corporate news from Canada, IGM Financial Inc. (IGM.TO) Thursday posted second-quarter net income of C$179.0 million or C$0.70 per share down from C$212.8 million or C$0.82 per share in the previous year quarter. Analysts were expecting the company to report earnings of C$0.75 per share.
Fertilizer maker Agrium Inc. (AGU, AGU.TO) said its second quarter net earnings grew to $860 million or $5.44 per share from $718 million or $4.54 per share a year ago. Excluding items, net earnings were $864-million or $5.47 per share. Analysts were expecting the company to report earnings of $5.22 per share.
Fertilizer producer CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (CF) agreed to acquire Canada's biggest grain handler Viterra, Inc.'s (VT.TO, VTA.AX) 34 percent interest in Canadian Fertilizers Ltd. or CFL, from Swiss commodities trader Glencore International Plc (GLEN.L) for C$915 million in cash.
In economic news, the U.S. Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment increased by 163,000 jobs in July following a downwardly revised increase of 64,000 jobs in June. Economists had expected employment to increase by about 100,000 jobs compared to the addition of 80,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. Despite the job growth, the unemployment rate edged up to 8.3 percent in July from 8.2 percent in June.
Elsewhere, euro zone retail sales volume rose 0.1 percent month-on-month in June, Eurostat reported. The June increase was in contrast to a 0.1 percent fall forecast by economists. In May, retail trade increased 0.8 percent. On a yearly basis, retail sales fell 1.2 percent in June, bigger than the 0.8 percent drop logged in May. Economists had forecast a 1.9 percent drop for June.
Meanwhile, a survey report from Markit Economics revealed that the private sector in the euro zone contracted for the tenth time in the past 11 months. The final composite output index rose to 46.5 from 46.4 in June, Friday. According to flash estimate, the index remained unchanged at 46.4.
by RTT Staff Writer
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