Baystreet.ca - Futures tied to Canada's main stock index rose on Monday, helped by oil and metal prices, while investors looked ahead to this week's Bank of Canada's interest rate decision.
The TSX gained 11.76 points to conclude Friday at 25,691.80. On the week, the gain was nearly 44 points, or 0.17%.
December futures zoomed 0.4% Monday.
The Canadian dollar nicked higher 0.07 cents to 70.75 cents U.S.
The Bank of Canada is expected to cut the interest rate by half a percentage point on Wednesday, marking its second consecutive rate cut of such magnitude.
Bets for a hefty cut jumped after Friday's data showed a sharp rise in the unemployment rate, with nearly 80% of respondents in a Reuters poll predicting a 50-bps cut on Dec. 11 to 3.25%.
In corporate news, Swedish mining group Boliden (ST:BOL) agreed to buy Lundin Mining (TSX:LUN)'s Neves-Corvo mine in Portugal and the Zinkgruvan mine in Sweden.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange poked ahead 1.93 points to 610.22, declining on the week four points, or 0.66%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures were slightly lower on Monday after the S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite posted their third straight winning week, ahead of key inflation data due out this week.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial average forged higher 19 points to 44,725.
Futures for the S&P 500 sank 7.25 points, or 0.1%, to 6,091.25
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite Index slid 54 points, or 0.3%, to 21,478.50.
The S&P 500 and NASDAQ closed at fresh records Friday, rising 1% and 3.3% for the week, respectively. The Dow was the lone laggard, closing the week down 0.6%.
Those moves come after the November jobs report showed stronger-than-expected growth, but not so much strength as to dent investor hopes the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates this month. Markets are pricing in an 85% chance the target rate will be lowered by a quarter point at the conclusion of the Dec. 18 meeting.
The November consumer price index, due out Wednesday, is expected to show a slight uptick in pricing pressures. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect a 0.3% and 2.7% monthly and yearly increase, respectively. That would be up from 0.2% and 2.6%, respectively, from the prior month.
On Monday, investors await October wholesale inventories data, due at 10 a.m. ET.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.2% Friday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng jumped 2.8%
Oil prices poked 87 cents to $68.07 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices rocketed $20.00 to $2,655.90 U.S. an ounce.