Canada's main stock index opened nearly flat on Wednesday as gold prices steadied.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index shed 17.42 points to open Wednesday at 16,104.83
The Canadian dollar jumped 0.56 cents at 77.68 cents U.S.
Air China and Air Canada signed a joint venture agreement to increase the commercial cooperation on flights between the two countries
“The Maple Leaf airline” saw its shares soar 16 cents to $23.66.
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.
Bombardier shares inched up four cents to $4.78.
Citigroup raised the price target on Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce to $130.00 from $125.00. CIBC shares acquired $1.02 to $114.26.
National Bank of Canada raised the target price on Hudson's Bay Co. to $11.00 from $10.00. Bay shares sank 16 cents, or 1.5%, to $10.30.
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.
Western University’s IVEY Business School’s Purchasing Manager's Index (seasonally adjusted) for May stands at 62.5, indicating that purchases were considerably lower than the previous month. That compares with 71.5 in April, and with 53.8 in May 2017
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture advanced 4.51 points to 772.36
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower in the first hour, with consumer staples down 0.6%, industrials sliding 0.4%, and utilities off 0.3%.
The three gainers were health-care, up 1.7%, while materials and consumer discretionaries each eked up 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 rose on Wednesday as bank shares and Boeing climbed higher.
The Dow hiked 85.07 points to 24,885.05, with Boeing rising 0.3% and contributing the most to the gains. J.P Morgan and Goldman Sachs were also among the biggest contributors of gains.
The S&P 500 poked ahead 0.35 points to 2,749.15, as financials climbed 0.8%, getting a boost from higher interest rates.
The NASDAQ lost 13.44 points to 7,624.42, as tech shares gave up earlier gains. The index hit a fresh all-time high earlier in the session.
Tech has been on fire recently, rising more than 6% over the past month to a record high. The best-performing tech names over that time include chip makers Advanced Micro Devices, Micron Technology and Microchip Technology. PayPal, Electronic Arts and Facebook are also up sharply over the past month.
Shares of J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley all rose more than 1%, while Goldman Sachs climbed 0.6%.
Mexico — one of the biggest U.S. trade partners — unveiled tariffs on Tuesday that target U.S. goods such as pork, cheese and steel. This comes after the Trump administration last week slapped tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the European Union, Mexico and Canada.
Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said the country plans to slap dollar-for-dollar tariffs on the U.S. Meanwhile, the E.U. threatened to retaliate with tariffs of its own.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury slouched, raising yields to 2.96% from Tuesday’s 2.91%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dipped 14 cents at $65.38 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices shone brighter $3.60 to $1,305.80 U.S. an ounce.
