Bay Street Seen Opening Flat

Sluggish commodity prices and weak European stocks point to a flat start for the Canadian market on Friday.

U.S. non-farm payroll data for the month of January, due before the opening bell, is likely to significantly impact the market.

Despite easing concerns about interest rates, the mood is likely to remain cautious amid rising fears of a global economic recession.

The Canadian market ended slightly lower on Thursday. Energy and materials shares were among the major losers.

Investors digested the interest rate moves by the Bank of England and the European Central Bank. The BoE and the ECB, both raised their interest rates by 50 basis points and signaled more hikes in the coming months.

The Federal Reserve had raised interest rate by 25 basis points on Wednesday, and indicated more hikes, saying inflation is still at elevated levels.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended down 10.61 points or 0.05% at 20,740.44. The index scaled a low of 20,696.86 and a high of 20,843.21 intraday.

Asian stocks ended mixed on Friday as U.S. tech giants reported disappointing earnings and investors awaited key U.S. jobs data later in the day for additional clues on the health of the world’s economy and rate outlook.

The dollar traded firm after both the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England (BoE) hiked their rates by 50 basis points, and U.S. tech giants Apple, Google parent Alphabet and Amazon all reported lackluster financial results late on Thursday.

Chinese shares fell even a private survey showed services sector activity in the country expanded for the first time in five months in January.

European stocks are weak, weighed down by some disappointing results from U.S. technology firms, and caution ahead of the crucial U.S. jobs data for the month of January.

In commodities trading, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures are down $0.12 or 0.16% at $75.76 a barrel.

Gold futures are down slightly at $1,930.10 an ounce, while Silver futures are lower by $0.080 or…