BEFORE THE OPEN
Source: Thomson Reuters

• Futures for Canada's main stock index rose, aided by strength in bullion prices. U.S. stock index futures were in the green, following upbeat overnight retail earnings outlooks
• European shares were up, as easing bets about aggressive interest rate hikes by central banks lifted sentiment
• Japan's Nikkei ended higher, tracking an overnight Wall Street rally
• The U.S. dollar edged up and oil prices dipped

• Google is in talks with the Indian government to integrate its shopping services with the country's open e-commerce network Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC)
• Google's talks follow the success of its payments business because of the government's initiative for financial transactions, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI)
• Google's existing shopping business works solely as an aggregator of listings online and doesn't carry out any order fulfilment like delivery, which the likes of Amazon do
• Partners of the ONDC project will show listings from each other on their platforms in search results
• Some industry executives, however, have raised concerns over how listings from different sellers will be prioritised
• "The logic would be that the highest sellers/best rated sellers will probably get displayed first, which means it will not be a level-playing field," said Mahesh Narayanan, a former head of Google's mobile ads business in India

• South Korea's POSCO Chemical Co Ltd said it plans to invest in a $633 million battery cathode materials plant in Canada with U.S. automaker General Motors (GM)
• The South Korean materials maker said in a regulatory filing that it plans to invest $278 million through September 2024 on the joint venture plant with GM
• In December, the two companies announced their plans to form a joint venture in North America

• An experimental drug of the company, that targets a specific genetic mutation, shrank tumors in 44% of advanced lung cancer patients in clinical trials, but also caused serious side effects in 43% of them, the company said on Thursday
• Details from studies of the drug, adagrasib, were released ahead of the early June annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), sending shares of Mirati down in after hours trading
• The oral drug is designed to target a mutated form of a gene known as KRAS that occurs in about 13% of non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC), the most common type of lung cancer
• The FDA is slated to make an approval decision on Mirati's drug by mid-December
• Mirati on Thursday said updated data from the Phase II study under review at the FDA shows that 43% of trial participants experienced serious treatment-related side effects, including increased levels of liver enzymes and anemia

• The company reported a fall in gross margins on Thursday, hit by soaring freight and labor costs across the United States, sending shares of the membership-only retailer down and overshadowing an otherwise upbeat quarterly report
• In the third quarter, Costco's gross margins dropped by 99 basis points and Costco's total revenue rose 16% to $52.60 billion in the quarter ended May 8, compared with estimates of $51.71 billion
• Excluding items, Costco earned $3.17 per share, topping estimates of $3.03
• "We're not seeing trade down really. We're seeing a little bit of shift in where people are spending their money.. this year, it's more sales in tickets, restaurants, travel, tires and gas," Robert Nelson, senior vice president of finance and investor relations, said in a post-earnings call
• Costco said it was increasing prices in certain areas of food to combat inflation

• The company on Thursday beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit and revenue, as enterprises invested heavily in the company's desktops and laptops to support hybrid work
• Dell's shares rose in extended trading as the PC maker forecast current-quarter revenue and profit above analysts' expectations
• The company expects revenue to be in the range of $26.1 billion to $27.1 billion in the current quarter and forecast adjusted profit per share of between $1.55 and $1.70
• Analysts estimate second-quarter profit of $1.47 per share and revenue of $25.6 billion
• For the first quarter, the company reported adjusted profit of $1.84 per share and revenue of $26.12 billion, compared with estimates for a profit of $1.39 per share and revenue of $25.04 billion
• "We expect backlog to remain elevated through at least Q2 due to current demand and industry-wide supply chain challenges," said Jeff Clarke, co-chief operating officer at Dell, in a post-earnings call

• The bank closed out a mostly strong quarter for Canadian lenders on Friday, reporting second-quarter profit that beat estimates on lower-than-expected provisions for credit losses (PCL), with continued growth in lending and fee income helping offset higher expenses and still subdued margins
• Net income excluding one-off items was C$893 million, or C$2.55, in the three months ended April 30, compared with C$801 million, or C$2.25, a year earlier while analysts had expected C$2.25 a share
• But strength in its lending business, particularly 18% year-on-year growth in business borrowing, lifted earnings 11% even excluding the impact of provisions and taxes
• That allowed revenue, which grew 9.2%, to outpace a 7.8% increase in expenses
• Costs have been ticking higher at all the banks, driving by rising inflation and a tight labor market
• Wealth management pre-tax, pre-provisions earnings rose 2% from a year earlier and financial markets increased 5% as higher trading revenue offset a decline in investment banking income from a record quarter a year ago

• The US and Taiwan plan to announce talks to deepen their economic ties to facilitate trade and supply-chain work, though any deal would fall short of a free-trade agreement
• Bitcoin is regaining its lead among coins, and it now accounts for 44% of total crypto market value, the most since October, just before the latest bull market peaked
• A record volume of Russian oil is aboard tankers, with unprecedented amounts heading to India and China as other nations restrict imports because of the war in Ukraine
• Violent clashes, mounting infections and vacant factory floors: the turmoil that’s engulfed tens of thousands of workers at an Apple Inc. supplier in Shanghai is a troubling symptom of China’s extreme efforts to keep factories humming during its worst Covid outbreak since 2020