Markets in Toronto looked set to open higher as strong earnings at some U.S. companies improved sentiment, even as some Canadian corporate results showed signs of weakness.
The S&P/TSX index gained 25.13 points to finish Monday’s session at 12,090.68, with morning futures ahead 0.3%.
The Canadian dollar faded 0.07 cents to 97.43 cents U.S. early Tuesday.
Encana Corp , Canada's number-one natural gas producer, reported a 25% fall in first-quarter operating profit due to hedging losses.
Teck Resources Ltd., Canada's largest diversified miner, reported a 40% fall in first-quarter adjusted profit due to lower coal prices, and said economic uncertainty may affect prices and shipments.
Contract electronics whiz Celestica Inc reported a 76% fall in first-quarter profit, hit by the loss of its once-biggest customer, Blackberry.
Other stocks to watch include Canadian National Railway Co., who said oil companies are increasingly investing in transporting crude by railway, with growing demand expected to bolster earnings in coming years.
Wireless company Rogers Communications Inc posted a 15% rise in quarterly profit as new smartphone subscribers pushed up wireless revenue.
The U.S. environment regulator on Monday said the State Department must take a harder look at climate and other impacts of TransCanada Corporation’s Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL oil sands pipeline before the Obama administration issues a final decision on the project.
On the economic ledger, Statistics Canada reported this morning that retail sales in this country rose 0.8% to $39.5 billion in February, running their monthly win streak to two. After removing the effects of price changes, especially hikes in gasoline prices, retail sales in volume terms were flat.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 5.28 points to close Monday at 944.35
ON WALLSTREET
Investors will be balancing improved economic results with gloomy news about the pace of global growth Tuesday.
Futures for the Dow Industrials jumped 71 points, or 0.5%, to 14,570. Futures for the S&P 500 took on 7.6 points, or 0.5%, to 1,563.50, and futures for the NASDAQ acquired 20 points, or 0.7%, to 2,817.25
Before the opening bell, DuPont reported earnings that beat expectations and raised its dividend. The stock price rose 1% in pre-market trading.
Travelers reported a rise in income that pushed up its share price by 3% in pre-market trading.
Delta Air Lines was also set to report quarterly results before the opening bell.
Apple headlines the list reporting after the close, and will be looking to reverse a slide that has dropped its stock roughly 35% in the past six months.
AT&T is also set to report in the afternoon.
Weak data on manufacturing in China weighed on shares in Shanghai. A slowdown in private sector output in Germany initially hit stocks in Frankfurt, although they rebounded by midday
Later this morning, the U.S. Census Bureau will publish data on new home sales. The annual rate is expected to have risen slightly in March to 415,000 from 411,000 the prior month, according to economists' forecasts.
Shares of heavily shorted Netflix surged 22% in pre-market trading Tuesday after the streaming video service reported strong subscriber gains on Monday.
European markets were higher in midday trading, recovering from an earlier slump.Germany's DAX rose 0.5%, London's FTSE 100 rose 0.8% and France's CAC 40 climbed 1.6%.
The European markets made gains after a rough start following disappointing results in the April purchasing managers' data for Germany, which showed private sector output falling for the first time since November.
Asian markets ended lower after a disappointing report on manufacturing in China.
The Nikkei 225 lost 0.3% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined 1.1%.
The Shanghai Composite was hardest hit by the factory report, falling 2.6% after HSBC's initial manufacturing index for April raised concerns about weakness in the world's second largest economy.
Oil prices declined 86 cents to $88.33 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices surrendered three dollars to $1,418 U.S.
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