Futures Point To Weak Start On Bay Street; Canadian, U.S. Jobs Data Hold The Key

(RTTNews) - Lower Canadian and U.S. futures, and weak commodity prices suggest a weak start for the Canadian market on Friday. However, jobs data form Canada and the U.S. hold the key.

Data from Statistics Canada showed the Canadian economy shed 42,000 jobs in August. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.4%.

The Labor Department's data showed U.S. nonfarm payroll employment jumped by 162,000 jobs in August, after rising by an upwardly revised 21,000 jobs in July. The unemployment rate in the U.S. came in unchanged at 4.1%. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to tick up to 4.2%.

U.S. jobs data could provide some clues for Fed's interest rate path, although the central bank Governor Christopher Waller argued in favor of keeping rates unchanged at the upcoming policy meeting.

In corporate news, Rogers Communications Inc. announced on Thursday that it has agreed with Quebecor Inc. to a new 12-year sublicensing agreement for French-language national NHL games in Canada, starting with the 2026-2027 season.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. will be in focus after the athletic apparel and footwear retailer issued cautious third-quarter revenue outlook and trimmed fiscal 2026 forecast following weak second-quarter results. The company expects earnings per share in the range of $0.93 to $0.98, and net revenue in the range of $2.290 billion to $2.320 billion in the third-quarter, representing a decline of 10%-11% from last year.

Canadian stocks soared on Thursday, adding to the modest gains from the previous session as traders continued to assess interest rate decision by the Bank of Canada as well as the impact of the tariff war with the U.S. amid inflationary concerns due to the U.S.-Iran re-escalation.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index settled with a gain of 541.51 points or 1.5% at 36,633.12.

Asian stocks closed higher on Friday as concerns over U.S. interest rate hikes eased and focus shifted to the all-important U.S. jobs report later in the day.

The major European markets are quite subdued in lackluster trade ahead of U.S. nonfarm payroll data.

In commodities trading, West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures are down $0.89 or 0.97% at $90.41 a barrel.

Gold futures are down $27.30 or 0.6% at $4,512.60 an ounce, while Silver futures are down $0.249 or 0.37% at $67.455 an ounce.