Futures Subdued After Trump Tariff Threats

Futures for Canada's main stock index were flat on Friday, after eight successive sessions of gains for the index, as investors refrained from big bets amid uncertainty over U.S. President Donald Trump's latest tariff threats.The TSX index leaped 122.58 points to end Thursday at 25,434.08.March futures on the S&P/TSX index slid 0.03% Friday. The Canadian dollar was up 0.16 cents to 69.72 cents U.S. early Friday. U.S. allies Canada and the European Union, threatening them again with new tariffs, while expressing dissatisfaction about their trade surpluses with the United States.Earlier this week, Trump said he was thinking about imposing 25% duties on imports from Canada and Mexico on Feb. 1.TD Bank said on Thursday that Chief Global Anti-Money Laundering Officer Herbert Mazariegos is stepping down immediately, as the bank takes remediation actions after it was fined by U.S. regulators for compliance failures.On the economic agenda, Statistics Canada’s new housing price index declined 0.1% on a month-over-month basis in December. Prices were down in seven of the 27 census metropolitan areas (CMAs) surveyed, while prices were unchanged in 13 CMAs and up in the remaining seven.ON BAYSTREET The TSX Venture Exchange backtracked 1.11 points Thursday to 616.94. ON WALLSTREET Stock futures edged lower Friday after the S&P 500 hit a record closing high following President Donald Trump’s call to lower interest rates and crude prices.Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials dished off 108 points, or 0.2% to 44,641.Futures for the much-broader index fell 8.5 points, or 0.1%, to 6,143.75.Futures for the tech-heavy NASDAQ lost 20.75 points, or 0.1%, to 22,016.50. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said Thursday that Trump’s efforts to unleash capital in the private sector could stoke inflationary pressures and prompt the benchmark 10-year rate to retest the 5% level.All three major averages are on track to post their second positive week. The Dow has gained 2.5%, and the S&P 500 has advanced 2% this week, while the tech-heavy NASDAQ is up about 2.2%.Stocks got a boost Thursday after Trump said he would “demand that interest rates drop immediately” as he addressed world leaders in Davos, Switzerland. The president also said he would ask Saudi Arabia and other OPEC nations to lower the price of oil.In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index let go of 0.1% Friday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index hiked 1.9%. Oil prices gained 37 cents to $74.99 U.S. a barrel. Gold prices brightened $24.30 to $2,789.30 U.S. an ounce.