Futures for equities in Canada rose on Wednesday, as rising hopes of rate cuts from the U.S. Federal Reserve to counter slowing economic growth could potentially weaken the dollar and boost gold prices.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index soared 150.35 points to end Tuesday at 16,166.24
The Canadian dollar gained 0.08 cents to 74.74 cents U.S. early Wednesday
June futures picked up 0.4% Wednesday.
Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd, which has been developing its own regional jet program, said on Wednesday it was in talks to buy Bombardier Inc's CRJ aircraft business.
Panamanian President-elect Laurentino Cortizo said on Tuesday his government would review a mining contract awarded to a subsidiary of First Quantum Minerals, casting a cloud of uncertainty around a key project for the firm.
National Bank of Canada cut the target price on Roots Corp. to $5.50 from $6.50.
Royal Bank of Canada cut the price target on Prometic Life Sciences to three cents from 70 cents.
Royal Bank of Canada cut the price target on Canadian National Railway to $127.00 from $128.00.
Citigroup raised the price target on BRP to $49.00 from $45.00
BofA Merrill Lynch raised rating on Cronos Group to buy from underperform, while the price target was upped to $27.00 from $17.00
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange bolted 6.28 points, or 1.1%, Tuesday to 601.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock index futures gave back some of their gains on Wednesday after the release of much weaker-than-expected jobs data.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 149 points, or 0.6%, to 25,495.
Futures for the S&P 500 picked up 16 points, or 0.6%, at 2,821.
NASDAQ futures hiked 54 points, or 0.8%, to 7,233.75
Private payrolls increased by just 27,000 jobs in May, according to data from ADP and Moody’s Analytics. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected an increase of 173,000 jobs. May’s print was the worst since March 2010.
Still, the major indexes were set to build on Wall Street’s second best day of trade for 2019 as the U.S. central bank hints at looser monetary policy while trade fears were assuaged.
Stocks that were the biggest losers during the sell-off that began in early May were among the biggest winners in pre-market trading Wednesday. Nvidia shares climbed 2.2% while Caterpillar traded 0.8% higher before the bell.
Apple shares gained 1.7%. CEO Tim Cook said China had not targeted the tech giant despite the recent escalation in U.S.-China trade tensions.
Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is scheduled to meet with People’s Bank of China Governor Yi Gang this weekend. This would be the first in-person meeting between key trade negotiators from the U.S. and China.
Overseas, the Nikkei 225 vaulted 1.8% Wednesday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index gained 0.5%.
Oil prices settled 41 cents to $53.07 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices added $10.70 to $1,339.40 U.S. an ounce.
