Futures for Canada's main stock index were little changed on Wednesday as early gains in oil prices were capped by reports that the U.S. government had asked some producers to increase output.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 70.01 points to close Tuesday at 16,122.25
The Canadian dollar climbed 0.46 cents to 77.58 U.S. early Wednesday
June futures dipped 0.01% Wednesday
Air China and Air Canada signed a joint venture agreement to increase the commercial cooperation on flights between the two countries
Latvia-based AirBaltic hastened a deal for Bombardier CSeries planes before Airbus formally takes over the Canadian planemaker because it was worried about securing the right delivery slots.
Citigroup raised the price target on Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce to $130.00 from $125.00
National Bank of Canada raised the target price on Hudson's Bay Co. to $11.00 from $10.00
It’s a busy day in the economic docket, with Statistics Canada reporting that Canada's exports rose 1.6% to a record $48.6 billion in April, while imports were down 2.5% to $50.5 billion. As a result, Canada's merchandise trade deficit with the world narrowed from $3.9 billion in March to $1.9 billion in April.
Also, the agency said municipalities issued $7.8 billion worth of building permits in April, down 4.6% from March. Declines were reported in every component except commercial buildings.
Later on this morning (10 a.m.), Western University’s IVEY Business School reveals its Purchasing Managers’ Index for May.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture advanced 6.09 points to 767.85
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock index futures rose ahead of the open on Wednesday as tech shares climbed, while investors turned their attention to an upcoming political summit in Canada.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials galloped 127 points, or 0.5%, to 24,949
S&P 500 futures took on five points to 2,756.50, while futures for the NASDAQ composite index gained 8.25 points, or 0.1%, to 7,187.50
Shares of Netflix rose 0.8%, and Tesla vaulted 2.6%, while Alphabet and Apple also ticked higher.
In earnings, Thor Industries, Cloudera and Okta are scheduled to publish corporate earnings after the bell.
Of particular concern to investors are the trade frictions between the U.S. and other countries. Last week, the Donald Trump administration imposed metal tariffs on Canada, Europe and Mexico — all of whom criticized and retaliated to Washington's decision. The White House remained upbeat, however, stating that it continues to seek strong ties with the nations involved.
Now a summit between leading political figures is due to take place in Quebec, this week, with the topic of trade expected to be of key importance.
Coming up Wednesday, a slew of economic data is due out at 8:30 a.m. ET, including the U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services, and productivity and costs figures.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 acquired 0.4%, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index gained 0.5% Wednesday,
Oil prices slid 25 cents to $65.27 U.S. per barrel.
Gold prices skidded $2.40 to $1,299.80 U.S. an ounce.
