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Colin Cieszynski

The Before the Bell report is compiled by editors of The Globe and Mail and is updated throughout the morning to reflect latest developments. Colin Cieszynski, Chartered Financial Analyst and Chartered Market Technician, is chief market strategist with CMC Markets.

For the most part, world markets have been trading flat to slightly lower consolidating this week's moves. Uncertainty over the U.S. election result has traders playing defense. U.S. index futures are slightly lower while continental indexes are down moderately with the Dax down 0.8 per cent.

Two major indexes have been hammered overnight due to currency rallies. The Nikkei and FTSE are both down 1.2 per cent or more, reacting to big gains in the last day or two in the yen and the pound. The yen has benefited from defensive capital flows as Donald Trump's campaign gains momentum. The pound soared Thursday on a combination of a High Court ruling that parliament needs to vote to trigger Article 50 and the start of Brexit negotiations, and a hawkish shift by the Bank of England away from rate cuts and toward neutrality.

In the U.S., the employers maintained a strong pace of hiring in October and boosted wages for workers, which could effectively seal the case for a December interest rate increase from the Federal Reserve.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 161,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said on Friday. August and September data was revised to show 44,000 more jobs created than previously reported.

Meanwhile, the Canadian economy unexpectedly added tens of thousands of jobs for the second month in a row in October, although all of the increase was due to new part-time positions, Statistics Canada data indicated on Friday.

Employment jumped by 43,900 jobs while the unemployment rate stayed steady at 7.0 per cent as more people took part in the labour market. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a loss of 10,000 jobs after September's outsized gain of 67,200.

But in a sign the economy remains soft, Canada shed 23,100 full-time jobs in October while gaining 67,100 part-time positions.

The bigger news affecting stocks is the U.S. election as it nears voting day on Nov. 8. Both sides in the election race will likely to try to find a way to spin whatever the jobs result is to their advantage. Donald Trump called last month's jobs report "terrible," for example, and has highlighted wanting to reverse manufacturing job losses as a core part of his campaign. A figure above 200,000 could help the Democrats to make the case that President Barack Obama's economic policies (which have been under fire) are actually working. The Fed didn't raise rates this week and kept a December hike on the table so the central bank is likely expecting another middle-of-the-road report.

In Canada, the Ivey PMI and the Canadian trade balance may also impact trading in the loonie today.

Now, here is a closer look at what's going on this morning and what is still to come.

MARKET DATA:

Futures (as of about 8:30 a.m. ET)

Dow -0.11 per cent; S&P 500 -0.06 per cent; Nasdaq: +0.06 per cent; TSX 60 -0.07 per cent

Equities
Japan's Nikkei -1.34 per cent
Shanghai composite index -0.12 per cent
Hong Kong's Hang Seng -0.18 per cent 
Germany's DAX -0.84 per cent
London's FTSE -1.55 per cent
France's CAC 40 -1.03 per cent

Commodities
WTI crude oil (Nymex Dec.) +0.04 per cent at $44.68 (U.S.) a barrel
Gold (Comex Dec.) -0.12 per cent at $1,301.80 (U.S.) an ounce
Copper (Comex Dec.) unchanged at $2.25 (U.S.) a pound

Currencies
Canadian dollar -0.06 at 74.53 cents (U.S.)
U.S. dollar index +0.192 at 97.23

Bonds
Canada 10-year bond yield +0.08 at 1.2 per cent

KEY ECONOMIC RELEASES

Japan services and composite PMI
Euro Area services and composite PMI and producer price index

(8:30 a.m. ET) Canada employment for October. Consensus is an increase of 3,000 jobs, or 0.02 per cent.
(8:30 a.m. ET) Canada unemployment rate for October. Consensus is 7.0 per cent, unchanged.
(8:30 a.m. ET) Canada average hourly wages for October. Estimate is an increase of 1.5 per cent year over year.
(8:30 a.m. ET) Canada merchandise trade deficit for September. Consensus is $1.7-billion, down from $1.9-billion in August.
(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. nonfarm payrolls for October. Consensus is an increase of 175,000.
(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. unemployment rate for October. Consensus is 4.9 per cent, down 0.1 per cent from September.
(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. average hourly wages for October. Consensus is an increase of 0.3 per cent from September and 2.6 per cent year over year.
(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. goods and services trade deficit. Consensus is $39.5-billion, down from $40.7-billion in previous month.
(10 a.m. ET) Canada Ivey Purchasing Managers' Index for October
(1 p.m. ET) Baker-Hughes rig count

KEY STOCKS TO WATCH

See also: Friday's small-cap stocks to watch

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Telus Corp. reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly profit on Friday, hurt by increased spending on its broadband network. Excluding one-time items, the company reported a profit of 65 cents per share, missing the average analyst estimate of 67 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to 48 cents per share from 46 cents.

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TMX Group Ltd. posted a sharp percentage rise in quarterly profit and raised its dividend for the first time since 2010. The owner of the Toronto Stock Exchange said that excluding the cost of layoffs and other one-time items, it earned $1.08 per share in the third quarter, beating the average analyst estimate of $1.01.

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Humana earned an adjusted $3.18 per share for the third quarter, three cents a share above estimates. Revenue also came in above Street forecasts.

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Regeneron Pharmaceuticals reported adjusted quarterly profit of $3.13 per share, well above estimates of $2.71 a share. But revenue was shy of estimates.

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Manufacturing company ITT Corp. matched estimates, with adjusted quarterly profit of 58 cents per share. Revenue came in slightly above forecasts. But the company cut its outlook.

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CBS reported adjusted quarterly profit of $1.05 per share, beating estimates of 98 cents a share. Revenue was also above analysts' projections.

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Activision beat forecasts by 10 cents a share, with adjusted quarterly profit of 52 cents per share. The video game maker also raised its full-year forecast.

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Las Vegas Sands beat estimates by 12 cents a share, with adjusted quarterly profit of 72 cents per share. The casino operator's revenue also beat forecasts.

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Starbucks shares were up 1.5 percent at $52.55 in premarket trading, a day after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly results.

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Monster Beverage fell 6.6 percent to $131.0 after a host of brokerages cut their price targets on the energy drink maker's stock following its quarterly result.

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GoPro slumped 19.2 percent to $9.65 after the wearable camera maker's forecast for the key holiday quarter missed analysts' estimates.

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FireEye jumped 14.4 percent to $12.60 after the cybersecurity firm reported a higher-than-expected rise in quarterly revenue.

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Kraft Heinz beat estimates by eight cents a share, with adjusted quarterly profit of 83 cents per share. The food company's revenue came in slightly below forecasts.

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Lions Gate lost 11 cents per share for its latest quarter, smaller than the consensus forecast of a 24 cent loss. The studio's revenue was well above expectations.

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Weight Watchers reported quarterly earnings of 53 cents per share, eight cents a share above estimates. The weight-loss company's revenue came in below forecasts.

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NetApp will lay off about six percent of its workforce in a further restructuring for the data storage company.

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Earnings include: AES Corp.; Ameren Corp.;  Black Diamond Group Ltd.; BNK Petroleum Inc.; Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP; Duke Energy Corp.; Fortis Inc.; Heroux-Devtek Inc.; Humana Inc.; Maxim Power Corp.; North American Palladium Ltd.; Open Text Corp.; Supremex Inc.; Telus Corp.; TransAlta Corp.;

With files from wire services

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