Stock futures pointed to a lower opening for equity markets in Canada’s biggest centre on Wednesday as investors remained cautious, a day after the index closed in a two-month gully.
The S&P/TSX Composite swooned 248.04 points, or 1.7%, to conclude Tuesday at 14,349.10. September futures shed 0.1% Wednesday.
The Canadian dollar slid 0.04 cents at 75.8 cents U.S. early Wednesday.
The federal government on Tuesday expressed confidence it could appoint new panel members to assess TransCanada Corp's Energy East pipeline, even though industry observers say it might be hard to find qualified candidates.
Citigroup raised the target price on Bank of Nova Scotia to $76.00 from $70.00
Stifel raised the rating on Potash Corp. to buy from hold
CIBC raised the target price on Teck Resources to $28.00 from $23.00
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dumped 16.73 points, or 2.1%, Tuesday to 797.17
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures are currently in positive territory, but the gains are small.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials gained 20 points, or 0.1%, to 18,029, while futures for the S&P 500 moved up 2.8 points, or 0.1%, at 2,125. NASDAQ futures pointed up 11.75 points, or 0.3%, at 4,735.75.
Shares in U.S. seed giant Monsanto and Germany's Bayer are on the move after the companies announced plans to combine operations.
Bayer said it was buying Monsanto for $66 billion U.S., including debt, to create a huge conglomerate spanning pharmaceuticals, health products and pesticides. This is the biggest M&A announcement of 2016.
But Monsanto stock is still well below the offer price of $128 U.S. per share in premaket trading, suggesting investors doubt the deal will get past regulators.
The legendary billionaire investor Carl Icahn said he wants to more than double his investment in the controversial nutritional supplements firm Herbalife.
Currently, Icahn Associates Holding owns 21% of Herbalife's outstanding shares. On Tuesday he said he wants to increase that stake to 50%.
Herbalife's stock subsequently gained ground in extended trading after falling by 3% on Tuesday.
Shares in Wells Fargo remain under pressure in pre-market trading after dropping by just over 3% Tuesday.
Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf apologized for the fake-account scandal at his bank in an interview on Tuesday, but added he wouldn't resign over the issue.
Wells Fargo was slapped with $185 million U.S. in fines last week after regulators accused the bank of creating more than two million fake bank and credit card accounts.
The powerful Senate banking committee plans to hold a hearing about the scandal beginning next Tuesday
In Europe, stock markets are inching higher in early trading. Asian markets mostly ended the day with small losses.
Oil prices fell 28 cents to $44.62 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices gained $2.30 to $1,326 U.S. an ounce.
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