Baystreet.ca – Futures Virtually Unchanged Friday

Futures for Canada’s main stock index were little changed on Friday ahead of September jobs data, as investors waited for cues on the pace of economic recovery against the backdrop of rising inflation.

The TSX Composite spiked 224.55 points, or 1.1%, close Thursday to 20,416.21

The Canadian dollar eked up 0.06 cents to 79.76 cents U.S.

December futures were flat Friday.

Britain’s Royal Mail’s GLS parcel service is to buy Canada’s Rosenau Transport for $360 million.

U.S.-listed pot company Sundial Growers will buy Canadian alcohol retailer Alcanna for about $346 million.

As for Alcanna, CIBC raised the target price to $8.75 from $7.50

National Bank of Canada upped the price target on Neighbourly Pharmacy to $33.50 from $32.00

National Bank of Canada raised the price target on Richelieu Hardware to $48 from $44.50

On the economic ledger, Statistics Canada says the economy created 157,000 jobs in September, the fourth consecutive monthly increase. The unemployment rate fell by 0.2 percentage points to 6.9%

Later this morning (about 10 a.m. EDT) Western University’s IVEY School of Business puts out its Purchasing Managers Index for September.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange hiked 11.78 points, or 1.4%, to 874.50

ON WALLSTREET

U.S. stock index futures were little changed during early trading Friday as Wall Street awaits the September jobs report.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials gained 25 points, or 0.1%, to 34,663.

Futures for the S&P 500 took on five points, or 0.1%, to 4,395.

Futures for the NASDAQ Composite Index grabbed 22.25 points, or 0.2%, to 14,903.50.

All eyes are on Friday’s jobs report, which will be key as the Federal Reserve prepares to slow its $120 billion-per-month bond-buying program.

Economists are expecting the economy to have added 500,000 jobs in September, according to estimates from Dow Jones. In August, just 235,000 jobs were added, significantly below the consensus estimate of 720,000.

Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 hiked 1.3% Friday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng forged out a gain of 0.6%.

Oil prices gained 53 cents to $78.83 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices hiked $6.40 to $1,705.60 U.S. a pound.