Futures for Canada's main stock index were subdued Wednesday, as investors awaited local inflation data and comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve on when it would ease its monetary stimulus.
The TSX Composite index surged 73.67 points to end Tuesday at 20,231.32.
The Canadian dollar inched up 0.07 cents to 82.13 cents U.S.
June futures were down 0.01% Wednesday.
The U.S. Transportation Department said on Tuesday it was seeking a $25.5-million fine from Air Canada over the carrier's failure to provide timely refunds requested by thousands of customers for flights to or from the United States.
As for the "Maple Leaf Airline," TD Securities raised its target price to $34.00 from $30.00.
RBC raised the target price on Empire Company to $45.00 from $43.00
JP Morgan initiated coverage on Stelco Holdings with an overweight rating and price target of $54.00.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported sales by Canadian wholesalers rose 0.4% in April, the third increase in the last four months.
The nation’s number-crunchers say activity was mixed with continued increases in the building material and supply sub-sector.
The agency’s consumer price index rose 3.6% on a year-over-year basis in May, up from a 3.4% gain in April. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the CPI rose 0.4% in May.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange faded 8.47 points Tuesday to 969.32.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks south of the border were relatively flat, as investors await a decision Wednesday afternoon by the Federal Reserve on monetary policy.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials withered 39 points, or 0.1%, to 34,138.
Futures for the S&P 500 fell 1.25 points to 4,235.25.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite took on 15.5 points, or 0.1%, to 14,037.25.
In early pre-market trading, large tech shares like Tesla and Nvidia were slightly lower, while shares of economic reopening plays Royal Caribbean and Boeing were slightly higher.
The Fed kicked off its two-day meeting on Tuesday. The central bank is not expected to make any policy moves, but it could signal that it’s beginning to think about easing its bond-buying policy.
The Fed will also release new forecasts on Wednesday, which could indicate a possible first rate hike penciled in for 2023. Previously, Fed officials hadn’t come to a consensus for a rate hike through 2023.
The Fed’s statement and forecasts will come out at 2 p.m. ET followed by a press conference by Chairman Jerome Powell 30 minutes later.
The meeting comes as inflation heats up, with producer prices rising at their fastest annual rate in nearly 11 years during May, a report on Tuesday showed.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.5%, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index faded 0.7%.
Oil prices gained 21 cents to $72.33 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices jumped $4.80 to $1,861.20 U.S.
