Stock futures pointed to a higher opening for Canada's main stock index on Wednesday, ahead of the Bank of Canada's interest rate decision.
The S&P/TSX composite index recovered 5.69 points to close Tuesday at 15,389.28, with futures up 0.2%.
The Canadian dollar slid 0.4 cents to 79.70 cents U.S. early Wednesday.
Magellan Midstream Partners LP and TransCanada Corp., Canada's second-largest pipeline company, said they would develop a pipeline to connect TransCanada's Houston tank terminal to Magellan's East Houston terminal.
CIBC raised the price target on Gibson Energy to $31.00 from $30.00
Raymond James raised the price target on Metro Inc to $37.00 from $33.00
NBF raised the rating on Shaw Communications to sector perform from underperform
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada noted this morning that manufacturing sales declined 1.7% to $50.0 billion in February, the fourth decrease in five months.
The bank rate decision is due to at 10 a.m. ET.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange inched up 0.43 points Tuesday to 696.05
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures are edging higher
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials gained 51 points, or 0.3%, to 18,015. Futures for the S&P 500 picked up 5.75 points, or 0.3%, to 2,096.75, and futures for the NASDAQ advanced 9.5 points, or 0.2%, to 4,407.25.
Google is in hot water in Europe. Regulators have launched a legal battle against the search engine giant over accusations it abused its dominant position to hurt competitors. The European Commission said Google is promoting its own shopping comparison services over rival products. Google shares edged down 0.9% in pre-market trading.
In merger news, Nokia confirmed it is buying Alcatel-Lucent in a €15.6-billion ($16.6-billion U.S.) deal that will create a telecoms equipment giant. Nokia shares gained 1.5%, while Alcatel's stock sank nearly 12% after jumping 16% Tuesday on news of the takeover talks.
Bank of America, PNC and Delta Airlines will report ahead of the open. Netflix delivers its results after the close.
On the economic front, the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index will be updated at 10 a.m. ET. The Federal Reserve will publish its Beige Book report on the economy at 2 p.m. ET.
The world's second largest economy grew at its slowest pace in six years, intensifying pressure on the government to boost stimulus measures. China's GDP expanded by 7% in the first three months of 2015. That was in line with expectations but down from 7.3% in the fourth quarter of 2014.
The European Central Bank is expected leave interest rates at ultra-low levels when it delivers a policy update later Wednesday. Investors will be looking for comments from President Mario Draghi on the outlook for its massive bond buying program launched last month in a bid to boost the economy.
European markets were rising in early trading. Burberry was a notable mover, with shares up 2% in London trading, after the luxury goods maker reported a rise in second half sales.
Most Asian markets finished with modest losses, though China's Shanghai Composite dropped 1.2% on the fall in GDP.
Oil prices gained 74 cents to $54.03 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices dropped $1.50 to $1,191.10 U.S. an ounce.
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