Canadian stocks got a bit of a lift early Wednesday as investors awaited the outcome of the U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 41.57 points to open Wednesday at 15,097.46.
The Canadian dollar was down 0.06 at 92.01 cents U.S.
The Canadian government approved the construction of Enbridge's Northern Gateway pipeline on Tuesday. Enbridge shares fell 22 cents each to $51.74.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals said on Tuesday it would launch an exchange offer for Allergan this week, allowing it to eventually take the unsolicited bid directly to shareholders. Valeant shares gathered 29 cents to $129.39.
First Quantum Minerals said on Tuesday it has agreed to buy Lumina Copper Corp for about $456 million, in a bid to win control of Lumina's Taca Taca copper project in Argentina. First Quantum shares declined 23 cents to $21.07.
Barclays raised the target price on Canadian Natural Resources to $53 from $48. The stock, which trades under the symbol "CNQ", gained 59 cents to $47.94.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada told us that wholesale trade rose 1.2% to $51.2 billion in April following a decline in March. Higher sales were recorded in all sub-sectors except for food, beverage and tobacco.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 3.18 points to 1,009.26
All but four of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher in the first hour, as information technology clicked 0.8% higher, gold moved 0.7% higher, and energy was 0.5% to the good.
The four laggards were weighed mostly by consumer staples, off 0.2%, consumer discretionary stocks, down 0.1%, and health-care stocks, sliding 0.03%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. indices were flat in morning trading, in anticipation of the U.S. Federal Reserve decision at 2 p.m. ET
The Dow Jones Industrials shed 14.64 points to 16,793.85
The S&P 500 nicked up 1.66 points to 1,943.65, and the NASDAQ composite slipped 1.34 points to 4,335.89
Blackberry popped after the struggling smartphone maker announced that the Amazon Appstore will be available on its new operating system that's launching in the fall. The move significantly expands the number of apps available to Blackberry users.
Blackberry is in the midst of trying to execute a turnaround, and lately, investors have seemed please. The stock is up 15% in the past month, though it is still down almost 45% for the past year.
Speaking of Amazon, the tech giant will be in the spotlight today when its CEO Jeff Bezos unveils a still-unknown product that is widely suspected to be a high-end smartphone. The stock moved higher in morning trading ahead of the announcement, which will take place near the company's Seattle headquarters.
Adobe spiked around 9% after reporting better-than-expected quarterly results Tuesday evening. The company, which is behind the popular Photoshop software, said revenue in the period was driven by the acceleration of its cloud business.
FedEx has finally stopped blaming the weather. The company released strong earnings Wednesday and shares got a nice lift over 4.5%. That was compared to last quarter, when FedEx claimed that its operating income would have been $125 million U.S. higher if not for the unusually harsh winter weather earlier this year.
ConAgra Foods shares sunk after the company cut its profit outlook for the three months ending in May, citing challenges from some of its retail brands, including Chef Boyardee.
The key question today for investors is whether the Fed is likely to raise interest rates by the end of the year or wait until 2015.
It is widely expected that the Fed will reduce its asset purchase program by another $10 billion U.S. and hold its key federal funds rate unchanged (at near zero rates). The real action will come when Janet Yellen speaks at a press conference afterward.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries improved, weighing yields to 2.63% from Tuesday’s 2.66%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil prices gained 37 cents to $106.73 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices faded 40 cents at $1,271.60 U.S. an ounce.
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