Toronto's main stock index looked set to open higher on Wednesday on optimism over a string of strong earnings. Markets will watch for the outcome of Federal Open Market Committee's meeting, while the head of the Bank of Canada testifies for a second successive day.
Stocks to watch this morning include Rogers Communications Inc., which said on Tuesday its quarterly profit dropped by a steeper-than-expected 16% as rising competition hurt its cable and wireless divisions. Adjusted net profit fell to $356 million, or 67 cents a share, compared with $423 million, or 76 cents, a year earlier.
Cenovus Energy Inc. reported a nine-fold jump in first-quarter profit on higher production. Net income rose to $426 million, or 56 cents per share, from $47 million, or six cents per share, a year ago.
CGI Group Inc, a technology outsourcing and consulting company, reported an 11% fall in second-quarter profit on lower margins.
Oil and gas whiz NiMin Energy Corp. said it would dissolve itself and sell its assets and use the proceeds to clear its debts, ending a four-month-old strategic review process that started in November. It said it would sell its assets in Wyoming's Big Horn Basin to BreitBurn Energy Partners LP for about $98 million.
ON BAYSTREET
The S&P/TSX Composite Index sifted off 8.85 points to end Tuesday at 11,980.10
The TSX Venture Exchange ducked back 5.26 points to 1,365.77, while the Nasdaq Canada index dipped 1.20 points to 402.09
The Canadian dollar was up 0.13 cents this morning at 101.43 cents U.S.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. index futures were higher with about 15 minutes before markets open, suggesting that stocks will rise at the start of trading. Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average were up 42 points, or 0.3%, to 13,001. Futures for the broader S&P 500 were up 8.2 points, or 0.6%, to 1,378.30. For the Nasdaq, futures leaped 52.50 points, or 2%, to 2,685.
Though Apple is not a member of the Dow industrials, it might be lifting sentiment worldwide. After markets closed on Tuesday, it reported that its quarterly earnings rose 94 per cent over last year, to $11.6 billion U.S. It sold 35.1 million iPhones during the quarter, which is an 88% increase.
The strong results easily surpassed expectations and looked set to snap Apple from a losing streak, which had sent the stock lower for 10 of the past 11 trading sessions: The shares rose 9% in premarket activity.
In Europe, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 rose 0.2%, even as a report showed that the British economy dipped back into recession in the first quarter. British gross domestic product contracted by 0.2%, versus expectations for a slight gain. Germany's DAX index rose 1.4%. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1%.
Among commodities, crude oil rose 0.6%, to $104.14 U.S. a barrel. However, gold was relatively unchanged, at $1,643 U.S. an ounce
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