Bay Street Looks Set To Open On Positive Note

(RTTNews) - Canadian shares look headed for a positive start Thursday morning, tracking higher commodity prices.

Investors will be reacting to earnings updates from Toronto Dominion Bank and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, and also be looking ahead to Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium on Friday for clues of interest rates and economic outlook.

Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) reported adjusted net income of $3,813 million for the third quarter of the current financial year, compared with $3,628 million a year ago.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) reported adjusted net income of $1,724 million for the third quarter of this year, compared with $1,808 million in the year-ago quarter.

Aurora Cannabis Inc. (ACB.TO) said a subsidiary of the company has acquired a controlling interest in Bevo Agtech Inc., the sole parent of Bevo Farms Ltd. Bevo is North America's leading supplier of propagated agricultural plants. Total cash consideration paid by a unit of Aurora on closing was approximately $45 million. Up to an additional $12 million shall be payable by a subsidiary of Aurora to the Bevo selling shareholders over three years.

On the economic front, a report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business said Canada's CFIB's Business Barometer long-term optimism index edged up slightly to 53.5 in August from 52.7 in the previous month.

Data on manufacturing sales for the month of July, and average weekly earnings for June are due at 8:30 AM ET.

The Canadian market ended modestly higher on Wednesday, led by gains in energy and materials sectors. The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 36.03 points or 0.18% at 20,021.38, nearly 50 points off the day's high of 20,068.93.

Asian stocks advanced on Thursday as investors looked forward to Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech on Friday at the central banking conference in Jackson Hole for further cues on the monetary policy outlook.

Powell is widely expected to reiterate the central bank's hawkish stance, given the expectations that inflation in the U.S. will be persistent and it will take time to contain it.

European stocks are slightly higher after German GDP data for second quarter came in better than expected.

In commodities trading, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September are up $0.39 or 0.41% at $95.28 a barrel.

Gold futures are gaining $16.60 or 0.94% at $1,778.10 an ounce, while Silver futures are up $0.303 or 1.6% at $19.210 an ounce.