Stock futures pointed to a slightly lower opening for Canada's main stock index on Wednesday tracking U.S. stock futures ahead of a statement from the U.S. Federal Reserve which is expected to show the central bank is in no hurry to raise interest rates.
The S&P/TSX composite index eked up 1.99 points to close Tuesday at 15,346.07, with futures down 0.01% early Wednesday
The Canadian dollar faded 0.18 cents to 82.92 cents U.S. early Wednesday.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada’s industrial product price index nicked up 0.3% in March, largely as a result of higher prices for energy and petroleum products, while its raw materials price index dropped 0.3%, during the same month, mainly because of lower prices for crude energy products.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 5.14 points Tuesday to 695.24
ON WALLSTREET
Wall Street is looking calm ahead of a big day for earnings and economic news.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials dipped 78 points, or 0.4%, to 17,980. Futures for the S&P 500 slipped 8.25 points, or 0.4%, to 2,103.75, and futures for the NASDAQ fell 20 points, or 0.4%, to 4,496.
Fiat-Chrysler, MasterCard and Time Warner are due to deliver results ahead of the open.
Baidu.com and Yelp are among the firms reporting after the close.
Twitter surprised the market with the early release of its quarterly results on Tuesday after they were leaked...on Twitter. Sales were down, but earnings were better than Wall Street expected. Shares were steady pre-market after falling sharply following the earnings release.
Investors will get a glimpse as to where the U.S. economy stands when the government releases its first look at gross domestic product. Economists expect the data to show growth slowed in the first quarter of the year.
The Federal Reserve will conclude its two-day meeting on monetary policy and release its monthly statement at 2 p.m. ET. All eyes will be on chair Janet Yellen for any clues as to when the Fed will start hiking interest rates.
European markets are dipping in early trading, though luxury goods maker Hermes rose nearly 3% in France after reporting a lift in quarterly sales.
Asian markets ended in the red. Japan's Nikkei was closed for a holiday.
Oil prices lost 20 cents to $56.86 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices fell $6.40 to $1,207.50 U.S. an ounce.
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