Bay Street Likely To Open On Cautious Note; Resources Stocks May Move Up

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is likely to open on a cautious note on Thursday with investors looking for news from the trade front.

Canadian and U.S. jobs data, due on Friday may provide some clues about the outlook for growth. Higher commodity prices may prompt investors to pick up resources stocks.

On the Canadian economic front today, Canada's trade balance is due at 8:30 AM ET.

The Ivey PMI reading for the month of May is due at 10 AM ET.

Vermilion Energy Inc. (VET.TO) announced that it has agreed to sell its United States assets for about $120 million in cash. The company intends to use the proceeds to repay debt. It plans to reduce debt to $1.3 billion by the end of the year.

On Wednesday, Canadian stocks moved to the downside after showing a lack of direction early in the session. The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 97.64 points or 0.4% to 26,329.00, giving back ground after inching up to a new record closing high in the previous session.

The pullback by Canadian stocks came after the Bank of Canada announced its widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged for the second consecutive meeting. The Canadian central bank said it decided to maintain its target for the overnight rate at 2.75%, with the Bank Rate at 3% and the deposit rate at 2.7%.

"With uncertainty about US tariffs still high, the Canadian economy softer but not sharply weaker, and some unexpected firmness in recent inflation data, Governing Council decided to hold the policy rate as we gain more information on US trade policy and its impacts," the Bank of Canada said.

Asian stocks ended mixed on Thursday as investors digested a pair of disappointing reports on the U.S. economy and looked ahead to key non-farm payrolls data on Friday for direction.

Chinese markets eked out modest gains, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump described Chinese President Xi Jinping as "extremely hard" to strike a deal with.

The major European markets are up in positive territory ahead of the European Central Bank's rate decision later in the day and amid bets the Federal Reserve will deliver two quarter-point cuts by year-end, in October and December.

In commodities trading, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures are up $0.18% or 0.29% at $63.03 a barrel.

Gold futures are gaining $10.90 or 0.32% at $3,410.10 an ounce, while Silver futures are up $1.152 or 3.3% at $35.800 an ounce.