Bay Street Seen Opening On Weak Note; U.S. Jobs Data In Focus

(RTTNews) - Canadian shares look headed for a negative start Friday morning, tracking weak global markets amid concerns about global economic slowdown. The focus is on U.S. non-farm payroll data.

Investors will also be reacting to a slew of earnings announcements from Canadian and U.S. companies.

Imperial Oil Limited (IMO.TO) reported a net income of $1,133 million for the second quarter of 2024, compared to $675 million a year ago.

Telus Corp (T.TO) announced that it posted a net income of $221 million in the second quarter of the current financial year, up 12.8% compared to a net income of $196 million in the year-ago quarter.

Magna International Inc. (MG.TO) reported net income of $313 million for the quarter ended June 2024, compared to $339 million in the year-ago quarter.

Canadian Utilities Limited (CU.TO) announced second quarter 2024 adjusted earnings of $117 million ($0.43 per share), compared to $100 million ($0.37 per share) in the second quarter of 2023.

ATCO Ltd. (ACO.X.TO) reported adjusted earnings of $96 million ($0.86 per share) for the second quarter this fiscal, compared to $87 million ($0.77 per share) in the second quarter of 2023.

Enbridge Inc. (ENB.TO) reported adjusted earnings of $1.2 billion or $0.58 per common share for the second-quarger, compared with $1.4 billion or $0.68 per common share in the year-ago quarter.

A day after climbing to a record high, the Canadian market retreated as stocks tumbled on Thursday, due largely to a slew of disappointing earnings updates, and concerns about the outlook for growth following a batch of weak economic data from the U.S. and Europe.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended at 22,723.21, down 387.60 points or about 1.7%, the biggest single session drop in about 5-1/2 months.

Asian stocks slumped the most since 2022 on Friday, with Japanese markets leading regional losses. Recession worries gripped markets as weak U.S. manufacturing and labor market data highlighted emerging cracks in the world's largest economy.

Heightened Middle East tensions and disappointing earnings updates from Amazon and Intel also dented demand for riskier assets.

European stocks are down, extending losses from the previous session, amid fears that the U.S. Federal Reserve has left it too late to begin cutting interest rates and risks damaging the world's largest economy.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures are down $0.59 or 0.77% at $75.72 a barrel.

Gold futures are gaining $24.10 or 0.97% at $2,504.90 an ounce, while Silver futures are up $0.573 or 2.01% at $29.050 an ounce.