Stock futures pointed to a lower opening for Canada's main stock index on Wednesday as oil prices fell after data showed a surprise rise in U.S. inventories of refined products.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index remained negative 49.6 points to end Tuesday at 15,919.43
The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.18 cents to 78.95 cents U.S. Wednesday morning.
December futures gave back 0.4% Wednesday.
Barrick Gold, the world's biggest gold miner, is staking new ground in a dogged push to overhaul its operations, seeking scarce artificial intelligence experts to oversee projects using technology for everything from exploration to robot-run mining.
High-rolling gamblers will face more stringent anti-money-laundering standards in British Columbia casinos, as the Horgan government unveiled the first set of recommendations from a review of its casino sector.
Barclays raised the target price on Bank of Montreal to $98 from $97
Barclays raised the target price on Laurentian Bank of Canada to $62.00 from $57.00
RBC raised the target price on Roots Corp. to $12.00 from $11.00
The Bank of Canada is set to make its last rate announcement for 2017, and experts expect the central bank to leave its trendsetting rate alone at 1%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 3.5 points Tuesday to 783.94
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock index futures pointed to a negative open on Wednesday, as investors awaited fresh data while taking note of the declines seen in markets overseas.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials slid 51 points, or 0.2%, to 24,121
S&P 500 futures fell 3.25 points, or 0.1%, at 2,625, while futures on the NASDAQ Composite index dropped 22.75 points, or 0.4%, to 6,249
Bitcoin broke above the $12,000 mark during Wednesday morning in Asia for the first time, as the cryptocurrency continues its march upwards.
Productivity and costs data were due at 8:30 a.m. ET. The figures come two days before the U.S. non-farm payrolls data for November, due out on Friday.
Overseas, European stocks were posting losses at noon local time, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 capsized 2%, and in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index collapsed 2.1%
Oil prices dropped 76 cents to $56.86 U.S. per barrel.
Gold prices gained $3.30 to $1,268.20 U.S. an ounce.
