March futures on the S&P/TSX index were up 0.6% at 6:47 a.m. ET. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index ended down 0.2% on Wednesday following declines in technology and metal mining shares, with "dovish" minutes from the Bank of Canada's (BoC) January policy meeting keeping losses in check. Investor focus will now be on Canada's employment and wage inflation data set for release on Friday, for clues on the BoC's rate-hike trajectory. Crude and copper prices gained on optimism over recovering Chinese demand, while gold prices rose on the back of a weaker dollar. Across the border, U.S. stock index futures rose as a slew of strong quarterly earnings lifted sentiment after worries that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates higher for longer fueled losses on Wall Street a day earlier. Markets will also await the weekly U.S. jobless claims data due at 8:30 a.m. ET. Insurer Sun Life Financial Inc reported a rise in fourth-quarter underlying net income.
Investment firm Canaccord Genuity Group Inc reported a decline in third-quarter profit. Ancora Group Holdings, a key shareholder in U.S. auto retailer IAA , has accumulated a new 0.5% stake in Ritchie Bros Auctioneers and is calling a major opponent of Ritchie's $6 billion deal to buy IAA "misinformed," according to documents seen by Reuters.
COMMODITIES AT 6:47 a.m. ET
Gold futures : $1,884.7; +0.13% US crude : $78.63; +0.20% Brent crude : $85.32; +0.27% (Reporting by Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
