Bay Street Likely To Open On Cautious Note

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is likely to open on a cautious note with a slightly negative bias on Friday as investors await Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the central bank's economic symposium in Jackson Hole.

Powell's speech is eyed for clues as to the pace and trajectory of the central bank's monetary policy tightening efforts.

Canadian Western Bank (CWB.TO) reported third-quarter net income of $81 million, up 9% sequentially and down 6% from the same period last year.

Hastings Technology Metals Ltd has entered into a binding share purchase agreement with an affiliate of Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. to acquire 8,974,127 common shares in Neo Performance Materials Inc. (NEO.TO), representing a 22.1% shareholding in Neo. The deal has been agreed at a price of C$15.00 per Neo share, representing a total consideration of C$135 million.

The Canadian market ended on a buoyant note on Thursday, lifted by strong gains in healthcare, technology and materials sectors.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 150.96 points or 0.75% at 20,172.34, rising for the third consecutive session.

Asian stocks followed Wall Street higher on Friday after data showed the U.S. economy didn't contract by as much as previously thought during the spring.

All eyes were on Fed Chair Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium due later in the day after several Fed officials stressed the need to keep raising rates to combat inflation. Investors hope that his speech will shed light on plans for more interest rate hikes.

European stocks are turning in a mixed performance in cautious trade, reacting to a survey showing Germany's consumer confidence declined further to a new record low.

Market research group GfK's forward-looking consumer sentiment index fell to -36.5 in September from -30.9 in August as households started to build reserves to meet future energy bills, thus dampening the propensity to buy. The reading was forecast to fall moderately to -31.8.

In commodities trading, West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for September are up $0.88 or 0.95% at $93.40 a barrel.

Gold futures are down $12.40 or 0.7% at $1,759.00 an ounce, while Silver futures are up $0.065 or 0.34% at $19.185 an ounce.