Futures for Canada’s main stock index rose on Friday, as gold prices gained on a weaker U.S. dollar after U.S. Federal Reserve officials downplayed inflation concerns.

The TSX recovered 38.02 points to close the session Thursday at 19,145.79.

The Canadian dollar picked up 0.03 cents Friday to 82.48 cents U.S.

June futures moved upward 0.3% Friday.

U.S. railway operator Kansas City Southern said that it had accepted Canadian National Railway $33.6-billion acquisition offer, upending a $29-billion deal with its competitor Canadian Pacific Railway.

Aurora Cannabis said it would move its U.S. stock listing to the Nasdaq due to the exchange’s “cost-effectiveness,” following similar moves by rivals last year.

MKM Partners cuts target price on Aurora to $6.00 from $9.00

BMO raised the target price on Home Capital Group to $40.00 from $36.00

Friday’s macroeconomic calendar features wholesale trade and manufacturing figures for March.

Manufacturing sales bounced back in March, rising 3.5% to $57.8 billion, following a 1.1% decline in February. Gains were widespread across all major industries.

Sales by Canadian wholesalers rose 2.8% in March, the second increase in three months. The growth in March was due to increases in the building material and supplies sub-sector and the miscellaneous subsector.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange faded 3.45 points to end Thursday at 907.47.

ON WALLSTREET

U.S. stocks were set to gain for a second day after starting the week with big losses.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials popped 170 points, or 0.5%, to 34,111.

Futures for the S&P 500 gained 27.25 points, or 0.7%, to 4,134.25.

Futures for the NASDAQ Composite index hiked 138.25 points, or 1%, to 13,238.50.

Still, the major averages are on track for hefty losses for the week as inflation fears hit sentiment.

The Dow is down 2.2% for the week, while the S&P has shed 2.8%. Tech stocks have been hit especially hard, pulling the NASDAQ down 4.6% for the week.

Tech stocks were the biggest outperformers in pre-market trading Friday. Tesla gained 2.5%. Twitter was up 2.2%. Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet were all trading in the green.

Disney shares were bucking the trend, falling about 3% in premarket trading after posting weaker-than-expected revenue and streaming subscribers.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eased guidelines on Thursday, saying that in most settings fully vaccinated people don’t need to wear masks indoors or outdoors.

United Airlines and American Airlines were higher again in pre-market trading Friday, along with Boeing.

Retail sales figures for April will be released on Friday, along with industrial production and consumer sentiment numbers.

Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 hiked 2.3%, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index jumped 1.1% Friday.

Oil prices leaped 81 cents to $64.63 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices increased $13.50 to $1,837.50 U.S.