Bay Street Likely To Open On Mixed Note; Powell's Speech Eyed

(RTTNews) - Canadian shares are likely to open on a somewhat mixed note Friday morning with investors awaiting Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech at Jackson Hole. Lower commodity prices may weigh a bit early on in the session.

Data on Canadian retail sales for the month of June is due at 8:30 AM ET. The manufacturing sales data for July is also due at 8:30 AM ET.

Cenovus Energy Inc. (CVE) announced today that it has agreed to acquire MEG Energy Corp. (MEG) in a cash and stock deal valued at $7.9 billion. As per the deal, Cenovus will acquire MEG for $27.25 per share, to be paid 75% in cash and 25% in Cenovus shares.

Cenovus expects the deal to bring in more than $400 million of annual synergies from 2028 onwards, with $150 million to realize in the near-term.

The Canadian market climbed to new record high on Thursday, with attention shifting to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium on Friday.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index settled at 28,055.43, up by 176.67 points (or 0.63%).

According to the data released by Statistics Canada today, Canada's industrial producer prices rose 0.7% month-over-month in July, while prices jumped 2.6 percent year-over-year. The Raw Materials Price Index increased 0.3% month-over-month in July and grew 0.8% year-over-year.

Asian stocks turned in a mixed performance on Friday as some strong U.S. economic data and hawkish comments from several Federal Reserve officials prompted traders to reduce their expectations for imminent rate cuts.

Investors await Fed Chair Jerome Powell's upcoming speech at the Jackson Hole symposium later in the day. Stalled Russia-Ukraine peace talks and Fed independence worries also kept investors on edge.

The major European markets are subdued in cautious trade today as investors await Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech at Jackson Hole for clues about the U.S. central bank's rate cut moves.

In commodities trading, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures are down $0.11 or 0.17% at $63.41 a barrel.

Gold futures are down $9.40 or 0.28% at 3,372.20 an ounce, while Silver futures are down $0.079 or 0.17% at $38.000 an ounce.