Stock futures north of the border inched up on Thursday, as more lenders reported a rise in quarterly profit, pointing to a healthy banking sector as well as a resilient economy.
The TSX added 111.26 points wind up Wednesday at 31,160.54.
December futures were up 0.1% Thursday.
The Canadian dollar gave up 0.09 cents to 71.58 cents U.S.
On Thursday, CIBC reported a rise in fourth-quarter profit helped by strength in its capital markets division. Bank of Montreal and TD Bank also reported a rise in quarterly profits.
Shares of the big six Canadian banks have outperformed the TSX so far this year as the lenders bet on fee-based, high-margin businesses to drive expansion at a time loan growth in personal and commercial banking segments has stalled due to economic uncertainty.
Logistics software firm Descartes beat analyst estimates of third-quarter revenue.
In other news, U.S. President Donald Trump could decide next year to withdraw from the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA), Politico reported, citing U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
On the economic beat, the IVEY PMI for November will be offered around 10 a.m. EST.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchanged regained 6.67 points to 943 Wednesday.
ON WALLSTREET
Stock futures are little changed on Thursday as investors grew more optimistic about a December interest rate cut.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials gained 52 points, or 0.1%, to 48,006
Futures for the S&P 500 improved 65 points, or 0.1%, to 6,868.50.
Futures for the NASDAQ added 8.25 points to 25,665.75.
Salesforce stock gained in the premarket after the company offered a stronger-than-expected revenue forecast. Five Below rose more than 4% after the discount retailer’s earnings flew past Wall Street’s estimates.
The latest jobs figures from ADP released earlier Wednesday helped lift the 30-stock Dow Industrial Average higher on the day, along with the other two major U.S. stock indexes.
The Dow rose more than 400 points, or 0.9%. The S&P 500 and tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite ended 0.3% and 0.2% higher, respectively.
Investors took the ADP data — which reflected a surprising decline in private payrolls for the month of November — as a further signal that the Federal Reserve could be more inclined to cut its key interest rate at its upcoming Dec. 10 meeting. Markets are pricing in an 87% chance of a cut next Wednesday, which is significantly higher than rate cut bets just a couple weeks ago.
Markets will be watching more jobs data Thursday when the Labor Department at 8:30 a.m. ET reports initial jobless claims numbers for the week ending Nov. 29.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect a slight uptick in filings to 220,000. Also, job placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas will release announced layoff figures for November.
Overseas, the Nikkei 225 in Japan skyrocketed 2.3% while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index captured 0.7%.
Oil prices climbed 31 cents to $59.26
Gold prices ditched $9.40 to $4,223.10.
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