Yahoo Finance 
Futures Rise on Hope of Oil Price Resolution
Canada's main stock index futures rose on Thursday as oil prices surged after U.S. President Donald Trump said he expected Saudi Arabia and Russia to reach a deal soon to end their oil price war.
The TSX Composite Index retreated 405.83 points, or 3%, to close out a rough Wednesday at 12,972.82.
The Canadian dollar swooned 0.82 cents early Wednesday to 70.15 cents U.S.
June futures gained 1.8% early Thursday.
Cenovus Energy said it would further reduce its full-year capital spending plans by $150 million, citing low global oil prices.
Shopify on Wednesday suspended its forecast for 2020, blaming uncertainties fueled by the coronavirus pandemic.
CIBC raised the target price on Airboss of America to $23.00 from $11.00
RBC cuts target price on Extendicare to $7.75 from $8.75
Credit Suisse cut the target price on Husky Energy to $4.50 from $5.00
RBC cut the target price on Sienna Senior Living to $15.50 from $19.00
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada told investors this country’s merchandise exports rose 0.5% in February, while imports were down 0.8%. As a result, Canada's merchandise trade deficit with the world narrowed from $1.7 billion in January to $983 million in February.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slid 9.27 points, or 2.4%, Wednesday to 381.13
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures jumped after a surge in the price of oil, a financial market which has collapsed this year and raised concerns about hefty losses for the energy industry.
Futures for Dow Jones Industrials hiked 388 points, or 1.9%, early Wednesday to 21,128.
Read: CBD E-Commerce Sales are Booming with the World Battling COVID-19
Futures for the S&P 500 moved forward 43.25 points, or 1.8%, at 2,492.50
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite added 118.75 points, on 1.6%, to 7,557.50.
Thursday brought news from the U.S. Labor Department that weekly jobless claims total 6.6 million.
Economists expected another four million to five million workers filed for jobless claims last week as coronavirus-related shutdowns roll through the country. The estimates ranged as high as nine million.
But WTI crude jumped 10% to back above $22 a barrel on Thursday after President Donald Trump said he expects Saudi Arabia and Russia to come to an agreement about their price war that has added to the pain for the crude market, already getting hit by an unprecedented demand slowdown from the coronavirus.
Energy stocks were among the biggest gainers in pre-market trading. Shares of Exxon Mobil and Chevron each gained more than 6%. Occidental Petroleum and Apache jumped more than 10%.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday he is closing all New York City playgrounds and said that the state’s model projects a high death rate through July. He also said cases in New York state now total more than 83,000.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 retreated 1.4%, while Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index advanced 0.8%.
Oil prices gained $2.13 to $22.44 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices jumped $22.00 to $1,613.40 U.S. an ounce.
