CANADA STOCKS-TSX futures slip after BoC governor's hawkish tone; jobs report on watch
Sept 8 (Reuters) - Futures for Canada's main stock index slipped on Friday on worries over hawkish comments from the Bank of Canada's (BoC) Governor Tiff Macklem, while investors awaited a key jobs report due later in the day.
September futures on the S&P/TSX index were down 0.2% at 7:29 a.m. ET (1129 GMT). The underlying benchmark index closed 0.5% lower on Thursday.
Macklem said on Thursday interest rates may not be high enough to bring inflation back down to target, a day after the BoC held borrowing costs at a 22-year high.
Market participants would focus on the jobs report, due at 8:30 a.m. ET, for more clues on the BoC's interest rate path.
The Canadian economy is expected to add 15,000 jobs in August, in contrast to an unexpected shed of 6,400 jobs in July, according to a Reuters Poll of economists. The unemployment rate for last month is estimated to rise to 5.6% from 5.5% in July.
Traders see an 85% chance for the BoC to keep rates unchanged at its October meeting.
The head of Canada's banking regulator said on Thursday its mortgage stress test was "imperfect" and "incomplete" as homeowners on a variable rate mortgages struggle to repay their loans after the central bank's series of interest rate hikes.
Oil prices were stable as investors weighed fears about the health of China's economy against supply cuts from major producers Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Among companies, Rogers Communications said on Thursday it was pricing in a C$3 billion ($2.19 billion) bond offering to repay short-term debt and other borrowings.
COMMODITIES AT 7:29 a.m. ET
Gold futures: $1,928.9; +0.3%
US crude: $87.39; +0.6%
Brent crude: $90.52; +0.7%
($1= C$1.3667) (Reporting by Siddarth S in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
