Canada’s main stock index was poised to open higher on Friday on gains in crude prices, but tracked its worst week since the pandemic-driven market rout in March 2020.
The S&P/TSX slumped 607.50 points, or 3.1%, to end Thursday at 19,004.06.
June futures hiked 0.9% Friday.
The Canadian dollar sank 0.26 cents to 76.94 cents U.S.
Bausch Health Companies is suspending plans for the initial public offering of its unit Solta Medical due to challenging market conditions.
RBC cut the target price on TELUS Corp to $36.00 from $37.00
TD Securities cut the target price on Airboss of America to $34.00 from $40.00.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported Canadian investors purchased a record $29.2 billion of foreign securities in April, after a $46.2 billion divestment in the first quarter of 2022.
At the same time, the agency says, foreign acquisitions of Canadian securities totaled $22.2 billion, led by investment in new bonds denominated in foreign currencies.
Elsewhere, StatsCan’s Industrial Product Price Index rose by 1.7% month over month in May and by 15.0% compared with May of last year.
The agency’s Raw Materials Price Index increased 2.5% on a monthly basis in May, posting a 37.4% year-over-year increase.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange tumbled 16.1 points, or 2.5%, to 639.55.
ON WALLSTREET
Stock futures rose Friday as Wall Street attempted to find its footing after a brutal week of selling.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials gained 230 points, or 0.8%, early Friday to 30,149.
Futures for the S&P 500 leaped 34.25 points, or 0.9%, to 3,705.50.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite index popped 129.25 points, or 1.2%, to 11,286.50.
The moves come as investors are increasingly worried about a potential economic slowdown.
Several key pieces of economic data fell short of forecasts this week, ranging from May retail sales to housing starts, and the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by the most since 1994.
Market volatility could be heightened Friday thanks to “quadruple witching.” This refers to the simultaneous expiration of stock index futures, single-stock futures, stock options and stock index options.
This event happens once a quarter and typically leads to a surge in trading volume, making for choppy trading action as traders close out positions.
The S&P 500 is down 6% for the week through Thursday’s close, which would be its worst weekly performance since March 2020. All 11 of its sectors are at least 15% below their recent highs.
The Dow, meanwhile, fell below 30,000 for the first time since January 2021 on Thursday. The 30-stock average is down 4.7% for the week, on track for its 11th negative week in 12.
The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite has been hit even harder, and is down 6.1% for the week.
On the earnings front, software giant Adobe reported a better-than-expected second quarter but delivered disappointing full-year guidance.
Shares fell more than 4% in pre-market trading.
Friday is a relatively light day for economic data, with industrial production data for May due out before the opening bell.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 dipped 1.8% Friday. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng gained 1.1%
Oil prices fell 45 cents to $117.14 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices were better $1.40 to $1,851.30 U.S. an ounce.