The Toronto stock market looked to open little changed Friday as data showed the Canadian and U.S. economies slowing substantially in December.
The Canadian dollar was up 0.14 to 89.94 cents US after Statistics Canada reported that fourth quarter economic growth came in at an annualized pace of 2.9 per cent.
That was better than the 2.5 per cent rise that was expected. But gross domestic product contracted by 0.5 oper cent in December, more than the 0.3 per cent drop that economists expected.
U.S. futures were lower as the first revision to fourth quarter GDP showed that the economy grew at an annualized rate of 2.4 per cent, matching expectations but down from the original 3.2 per cent reading.
By contrast, Statistics Canada raised its initial estimates for the first- and second-quarters of 2013 and said the overall growth rate for the year was 2.0 per cent _ the highest since 2011.
The Dow Jones industrial futures were 17 points lower to 16,255, the Nasdaq futures lost four points to 3,697.5 and the S&P 500 futures slipped 2.5 points to 1,851.5.
Traders will also take in the latest reading on consumer confidence when the University of Michigan releases its widely-watched index mid-morning.
There was also major acquisition activity as U.S. toymaker Mattel, Inc. (Nasdaq:MAT) made a friendly takeover offer for Canadian toy maker Mega Brands Inc. (TSX:MB), which has the world’s No. 2 line of construction sets after Lego. The deal values the Montreal-based company at US$460 million, including debt.
Mattel is offering C$17.75 cash per share of Mega Brands, which closed Thursday at $13.07 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Investors are keeping an eye on the crisis in Ukraine following accusations by the country’s new interior minister, Arsen Avakov, that Russian military were blocking a Ukrainian military airport in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol in Crimea.
IG market analyst Stan Sahmu said that while traders for now are focused on economic indicators, “the Ukraine situation seems to be escalating in the background and could haunt markets in coming weeks.”
On the commodity markets, the April crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange declined 33 cents to US$102.07 a barrel.
May copper was off a penny to US$3.20 a pound while April bullion dipped 40 cents to US$1,331.40 an ounce.
European markets were mixed as data showed the inflation rate in the 18-country eurozone held steady at an annual rate of 0.8 per cent in February, which eased immediate concerns that the currency union is sliding into deflation, a sustained drop in prices.
London’s FTSE 100 index was down 0.13 per cent, Frankfurt’s DAX rose 0.07 per cent while the Paris CAC 40 declined 0.27 per cent.
Earlier in Asia, China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.4 per cent, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong was little changed while Japan’s Nikkei 225 was an exception, dropping 0.6 per cent.