Futures for Canada's main stock index rose on Wednesday, supported by strong U.S. earnings and expectations of additional stimulus from Beijing that could soften the impact of the ongoing trade dispute with the U.S.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index turned lower 133.94 points to close Tuesday at 16,286.30
The Canadian dollar lopped off 0.18 cents at 76.39 cents U.S. early Wednesday
September futures hiked 0.5% Wednesday
Magna International lowered its full-year production forecast for North America, hurt in part by tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.
Thomson Reuters reported a 2% rise in quarterly revenue and reaffirmed its 2018 forecast, saying it was on track for a "solid" year.
Air France-KLM's nominations committee has picked Benjamin Smith, Air Canada's chief operating officer, as its preferred candidate to head the airline, French newspaper Le Monde reported.
RBC cut the target price on Linamar Corp. to $83.00 from $86.00
RBC raised the target price on Kirkland Lake Gold to $32.00 from $26.00
CIBC cut the target price on Western Forest Products to $3.00 from $3.25
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported that Canadian municipalities issued $8.1 billion worth of building permits, down 2.3% from the previous month.
The agency attributes the decline to lower construction intentions for residential buildings, following a strong May.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange forfeited 1.19 points Tuesday to 700.86
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock index futures rose marginally prior to the start of Wednesday's session as the S&P 500 was within striking distance of hitting an all-time high.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials faded six points to 25,594
S&P 500 futures lost 1.5 points, or 0.1%, to 2,858.25, while futures for the NASDAQ composite fell 11.75 points, or 0.2%, to 7,465.50.
The S&P 500 closed Tuesday's session just 0.5% from a record high. If the index breaks above 2,872.87, it would notch its first all-time high since Jan. 26. The NASDAQ was also less than 1% away from a record while the Dow remained 3.7% below its all-time high through Tuesday's close.
Nearly 90% of S&P 500 companies have released their calendar second-quarter. Of those companies, 76.4% have reported better-than-forecast quarterly profits. If the earnings season ends with at least 80% of companies beating estimates, it would mark the first time that has happened since the data was first tracked in 2008.
Amazon and Apple are among the companies that have reported better-than-expected earnings. CVS Health also posted better-than-expected earnings on Wednesday, sending its shares up by 3.3%.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk meantime published a series of tweets Tuesday about potentially taking the automaker private at $420 a share. However in a blog post, he added that the final decision had not yet been made. Shares rose over 10% by Tuesday's close.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 dipped 0.1% while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index climbed 0.4%.
Oil prices dipped 65 cents to $68.52 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained 30 cents to $1,218.60 U.S. an ounce.
