The Toronto stock market steeled itself for a negative start to trading Wednesday amid falling gold and copper prices.
The S&P/TSX composite index eked its way higher by 9.57 points to end Tuesday at 12,660.44
The Canadian dollar fell 0.08 cents to 97.41 cents U.S. early Wednesday
The inconclusive results of Italy’s election continued to cast a shadow over markets with voting not pointing to support for any one party.
In earnings news, traders focused on news from the retail sector.
Sears Canada Inc. reports it had $39.9 million of net earnings in the fourth quarter or 39 cents per share, little changed from the year-earlier period. However, revenue and same-store sales declined during the important holiday shopping period as total revenue fell to just under $1.3 billion, down about $60 million from a year earlier.
Elsewhere, Toronto-based mining company Sherritt International announced after markets closed Tuesday that the quarterly dividend will rise, but the company released fourth-quarter results early Wednesday that missed analyst estimates.
Sherritt reported it had a $17.3-million net loss, or six cents per share, in the fourth quarter. After adjusting to remove certain items, Sherritt had $6.2 million of net earnings or three cents per share. Analysts had estimated 11 cents per share of net income and six cents per share of adjusted earnings.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange faded 9.09 points to 1,131.91
ON WALLSTREET
After two wild days on Wall Street, investors appear to be taking a breather.
Futures for the Dow Industrials moved ahead 15 points, or 0.1%, to 13,874. Futures for the S&P 500 picked up 1.30 points, or 0.1%, to 1,493.70, and futures for the NASDAQ gained 3.50 points, or 0.1%, to 2,711.25
Italy continues to be a worry, as concern about political gridlock undoing Italy's progress caused a big selloff in global markets earlier this week. But Fed chairman Ben Bernanke's comments and a pair of solid economic reports on Tuesday soothed those worries and stocks staged a big rebound.
Heading into Wednesday, investors await data on durable goods orders, due out this morning. And Bernanke will be back on Capital Hill to give testimony before the House Financial Services Committee.
Firms including retailer TJX are scheduled to report quarterly results in the morning, while Sturm Ruger, Groupon and J.C. Penney are up after the bell.
Shares of Priceline were up more than 4% in premarket trading after the online travel site beat profit forecasts.
First Solar shares sank sharply in premarket trading after the renewable energy firm missed sales forecasts.
Asian markets ended mixed. Japan's Nikkei 225 lost 1.3%, while the Shanghai Composite added 0.9% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng increased 0.2%.
Meanwhile, a bond auction in Italy drew solid demand for €6.5 billion worth of medium and long-term debt. That helped push European markets higher.
Oil prices shaved off six cents to $92.57 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices fell $10 an ounce to $1,605.50 U.S.
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