Futures tied to Canada's main stock index retreated on Friday, mirroring losses in its Wall Street peers amid tariff concerns, while investors awaited domestic retail sales data.
The TSX Composite Index stumbled 8.97 points to close Thursday at 25,060.24.
Futures fell 0.3% Friday.
The Canadian dollar was flat at 69.76 cents U.S. early Friday.
The TSX ended marginally lower on Thursday after its biggest rise in over seven months the previous day, as investors weighed economic uncertainty and focused on the upcoming snap election.
The Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said on Thursday that due to uncertainty about U.S. tariffs, the bank had to adjust its monetary policy to become less forward-looking than normal.
The central bank is due to issue its quarterly monetary policy report on April 16, in which it will predict growth in the quarters and years ahead.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada’s new housing price index edged up 0.1% on a month-over-month basis in February, following a decline in the previous month.
Moreover, retail sales decreased 0.6% to $69.4 billion in January. Sales were down in three of nine subsectors and were led by decreases at motor vehicle and parts dealers.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange inched upward 2.35 points Thursday to 640.78.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures fell Friday morning as the S&P 500 tries to snap a four-week losing streak caused by trade policy turmoil, recession fears and a rollover in megacap technology shares.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials plunged 141 points, or 0.3%, to 42,145
Futures for the S&P 500 index dipped 18.75 points, or 0.3%, to 5,694
Futures for the tech-heavy NASDAQ plummeted 87.5 points, or 0.4%, to 19,791.75.
Nevertheless, the S&P 500 is on pace for a 0.4% advance week to date, and it’s about to break a four-week losing streak. The benchmark briefly fell into correction territory at one point during the monthlong rout.
It sits about 8% from its record high going into Friday, short of the 10% correction level, as it tried to mount a comeback from the turmoil.
The bulk of the market’s gains came on Wednesday when Federal Reserve policymakers kept their forecast for two rate cuts this year.
The Dow is on track for a 1.1% gain this week, marking its best weekly performance since late January. The NASDAQ, however, is off about 0.4% in the period, heading for its fifth straight losing week and its longest stretch of weekly losses since May 2022.
FedEx shares were weighing on sentiment, with shares of the important transportation company to the economy down 9% in early trading Friday. FedEx cut its earnings outlook, citing “weakness and uncertainty in the U.S. industrial economy.”
Nike shares were off by 7% in premarket trading after the shoe and apparel giant said sales this quarter would miss analysts’ expectations because of tariffs and falling consumer confidence.
In Japan, markets resumed trading Friday, with the Nikkei 225 index falling 0.2%, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng shed 2.2%.
Oil prices let go of three cents to $68.04 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices shed $2.50 to $3,041.30 U.S. an ounce.
