TORONTO - The Toronto stock market was set to open little changed Friday at the end of what is shaping up to be a positive week with oil stuck below the US$75 a barrel level for the first time in four years.
The Canadian dollar was ahead 0.07 of a cent to 87.97 cents US ahead of the release later in the morning of manufacturing shipments data for October.
U.S. futures were also little changed ahead of the latest reading on U.S. retail sales.
The Dow Jones industrial futures were ahead two points to 17,598, the Nasdaq futures rose 8.8 points to 4,213,8 while the S&P 500 futures dipped 1.3 points to 2,032.8.
The TSX ended Thursday's session with a 77-point loss, led by a three per cent drop in the energy sector after data from last week showed that U.S. crude supplies decreased 1.7 million barrels last week, much more than the 500,000 barrel drop that analysts had expected. However, gasoline inventories rose by 1.8 million barrels against an expected 280,000 decrease.
An imbalance between supply and demand has helped drive crude prices down by about 30 per cent from the highs of the summer, a time when Iraqi oil supplies were threatened by advances by Islamic State forces. Many analysts think this dive in prices to the mid-70s won't last and point to economic fundamentals suggesting oil should be trading around the $90 level.
Markets are looking ahead to OPEC's next meeting, scheduled for Nov. 27, where members will decide whether to cut production in order to support higher prices.
On Friday, the December crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 28 cents to US$74.49 a barrel.
Elsewhere on commodity markets, December bullion fell $10.30 to US$1,151.20 an ounce. That TSX gold sector has plunged 14 per cent in the past month while bullion prices have headed steadily downward, pressed in part by a U.S. dollar that strengthened as the Federal Reserve removed its last quantitative easing stimulus at the end of October.
December copper was unchanged at Us$2.99 a pound.
In earnings news, conglomerate Onex Corp. (TSX:OCX) reported a US$388-million net profit for the third quarter, down slightly from $399 million a year ago. Earnings per share for the three-month period totalled $3.31 per subordinate voting share, up from $3.22 a year eariler. The Toronto-based company invests in a wide variety of industries and its quarterly results can swing dramatically depending on assets sales, purchases and other factors.
Aircraft components maker Heroux-Devtek Inc. (HRX:TSX) posted adjusted net income of $3.8 million or 11 cents per share, which was up from $2.6 million or eight cents per share a year earlier. but four cents short of estimates.
Meanwhile, markets will be watching the U.S. Congress Friday as the House of Representatives votes Friday on a bill to approve TransCanada's (TSX:TRP) Keystone XL oil pipeline. A separate Senate vote is expected early next week. But the big question is whether a positive vote for the pipeline will be vetoed by President Barrack Obama.
