Bay Street Likely To Open Higher

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market is likely to open marginally higher on Thursday amid easing concerns about inflation and interest rates. U.S. jobs data is likely to make an impact on the mood.

Data from the Labor Department showed U.S. non-farm payroll employment rose by 57,000 jobs in June. The unemployment rate edged down to 4.2%.

S&P Global will release a report on Canadian manufacturing activity for the month of June, at 9:30 AM ET.

The Canadian market ended slightly higher on Tuesday after a cautious session as investors refrained from big moves due to the lack of clarity over U.S.-Iran negotiations and the uncertainty surrounding Canada-U.S. trade talks.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index settled at 34,856.99, gaining 33.17 points or 0.1%. The Canadian market remained closed on Wednesday for Canada Day.

Asian stocks closed weak on Thursday as AI-related concerns triggered a sharp sell-off in semiconductor shares. The markets in South Korea and Japan saw heavy selloffs after reports emerged that Apple Inc. is in negotiations to purchase chips from two Chinese semiconductor makers on a Pentagon blacklist to reduce the impact of an ongoing global memory chip shortage.

Additionally, it was reported that U.S. tech giant Meta Platforms plans to rent its artificial intelligence infrastructure to other companies, fueling concerns that the company may have built more AI computing capacity than it currently needs.

The major European markets are up firmly in positive territory this afternoon amid easing concerns about inflation and interest rates.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures are down $1.47 or 2.1% at $67.11 a barrel.

Gold futures are down $3.40 or 0.07% at $4,079.00 an ounce, while Silver futures are down $0.251 or 0.41% at $60.260 an ounce.