Bay Street Likely To Open Flat Or With Slightly Negative Bias

(RTTNews) - Canadian shares may open flat or with a slightly negative bias on Thursday, tracking weak crude oil prices and amid concerns about potential imposition of new tariffs by the Trump Administration.

Preliminary data on Canadian retail sales for the month of December, and final data for the month of November are due at 8:30 AM ET.

Retail sales likely remained unchanged from the previous month in November, according to flash estimate, following a 0.6% increase in October.

K92 Mining Inc. (KNT.TO) today released a production outlook of 160,000 to 185,000 ounces gold equivalent for 2025, an increase from the record 149,515 ounces produced last year.

Aurora Cannabis Inc. (ACB.TO) announced that it has launched its first German-cultivated medical cannabis product, under the brand IndiMed, which will be manufactured at its EU-GMP facility in Leuna, Germany.

The Canadian market closed higher on Wednesday, extending its winning streak to a seventh straight session, lifted by gains in technology and industrials sectors.

Tech stocks had a good session, tracking a fine performance by the Nasdaq on Wall Street after Netflix reported strong earnings and sales in the latest quarter, and U.S. President Donald Trump announced a private sector investment of up to $500 billion to fund artificial intelligence infrastructure.

Concerns about tariff threats by Trump limited market's upside.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 29.87 points or 0.12% at 25,311.50.

Asian stocks turned in a mixed performance on Thursday despite China announcing a slew of measures to stabilize its stock markets.

Traders awaited key announcements on tariffs from the Trump administration and policy decisions from several major central banks in the coming weeks.

European stocks were flat to slightly higher on Thursday after China rolled out a basket of measures to funnel capital into the country's stock markets.

Amid much uncertainty over the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump's proposed tariffs on several countries, traders looked ahead to his keynote address at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, later in the session for further direction.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures are up $0.36 or about 0.48% at $75.80 a barrel.

Gold futures are down $13.80 or 0.5% at $2,757.10 an ounce, while Silver futures are lower by $0.405 or 1.29% at $31.015 an ounce.