Bay Street Likely To Open On Positive Note

(RTTNews) - Canadian shares are likely to open higher on Thursday, led by technology stocks after NVIDIA reported a sharp jump in its fourth-quarter profit and issued an encouraging revenue outlook for the first quarter.

Investors will also be reacting to retail sales data, and a slew of earnings updates from Canadian companies.

Data on Canadian retail sales for the month of December is due at 8:30 AM ET. According to preliminary estimates, retail sales likely surged by 0.8% in December, the sharpest increase in 11 months. In November, sales edged lower by 0.2%.

Maple Leaf Foods Inc. (MFI.TO) posted a fourth quarter net loss of C$9.32 million or C$0.08 per share compared to a loss of C$41.5 million or C$0.34 per share, prior year.

Primo Water Corp. (PRMW) reported fourth-quarter net income of $177.6 million, up from last year's $57.5 million. Earnings per share were $1.11, up from $0.36 a year ago.

Loblaw Companies Limited (L.TO) reported adjusted net earnings were $630 million for the fourth-quarter of 2023, an increase of $55 million, or 9.6%.

Quebecor Inc (QBR.TO) reported a net income of $141.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2023, compared to net income of $142.5 million in the year-ago quarter.

The company projects its first-quarter 2024 revenue to be between $435 million and $445 million and adjusted EBITDA to be between $85 million and $91 million.

The Canadian market ended modestly lower on Wednesday after staying weak right through the day's session. Concerns about interest rates, and a sell-off in the technology sector weighed on the market.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended down 45.15 points or 0.21% at 21,172.38, after moving in a narrow range between 21,100.67 and 21,197.40.

The minutes of the Fed's latest monetary policy meeting revealed most officials remain wary of cutting interest rates "too quickly."

Asian stocks advanced on Thursday as investors cheered Nvidia's strong quarterly earnings results, driven by demand for its chips to power artificial intelligence.

Gold ticked higher in Asian trading, while the dollar dipped ahead of PMI data releases from Europe and the U.S. Oil prices recovered some ground after falling around 1 percent Wednesday on demand concerns.

European stocks are broadly higher with investors cheering strong earnings reports and provisional survey data from S&P Global showing that Eurozone private sector shrank at the slowest pae in eight months in February.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures are down $0.19 or 0.24% at $77.72 a barrel.

Gold futures are gaining $4.10 or 0.23% at $2,038.40 an ounce, while Silver futures are up $0.186 or 0.79% at $23.060 an ounce.