Futures for Canada's main stock index edged lower on Wednesday, as deepening U.S.-China trade tensions and global economy slowdown fears drove investors away from risky assets.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 135.71 points to finish Tuesday at 16,357.75
The Canadian dollar crept up 0.07 cents to 74.3 cents U.S. early Wednesday
June futures lost 0.1% Wednesday.
Private equity firm Waterton Global Resource Management on Tuesday said it agreed to not increase its stake in Hudbay Minerals, to more than 15% after the private equity firm settled its drawn-out proxy contest with the Canadian miner.
Enbridge is asking oil shippers to sign at least eight-year contracts to move crude on its Mainline pipeline network, as it proposes to shift away from a monthly allocation system, people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
RBC cut the price target on Alaris Royalty to $22.00 from $25.00
Eight Capital cut the price target on Freehold Royalties to $11.50 from $12.00
CIBC cut the price target WestJet Airlines to $20.00 from $21.00
Economically speaking, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported that seasonally-adjusted housing starts rose to 235,460 units in April of 2019 from a downwardly revised 191,981 units in March and beating market expectations of 196,400 units. The SAAR of urban starts increased by 24% in April to 220,387 units
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange was negative 4.39 points to end Tuesday at 599.23
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock index futures pointed to a third day of losses on fears the U.S. and China would be unable to resolve a dispute over a proposed trade agreement before new tariffs threatened by President Donald Trump are implemented Friday.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average wavered 117 points, or 0.5%, to 25,861
Futures for the S&P 500 faded 14.25 points, or 0.5%, at 2,876.50
NASDAQ futures flopped 46 points, or 0.6%, to 7,628
Shares of Caterpillar and Ford Motor fell in pre-market trading, along with chip stocks including Nvidia and Micron Technology, on the trade war fears.
Investors are also monitoring corporate earnings. Honda Motor, Toyota Motors, The New York Times, and Wendy’s will report their latest results before the bell. Disney and Fox will report after the closing bell.
So far, 88% of the S&P 500 companies have reported their first-quarter earnings. Earnings are beating by 6.7%, with 73% of companies exceeding their bottom-line estimates, according to Credit Suisse.
Chinese trade officials backtracked on key aspects of a trade deal draft, undercutting hopes that the Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Liu He this week could salvage the deal.
Data released Wednesday morning in China suggested that its trade surplus in April stood at $13.84 billion U.S., well below expectations. However, its trade surplus with the U.S. rose to $21.01 billion in April from $20.5 billion in March.
The Dow has lost nearly 540 points this week amid the trade dispute, while the S&P 500 and NASDAQ are down more than 2% after both hitting all-time highs last week.
Overseas, the Nikkei 225 sank 1.5%, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index dipped 1.2%
Oil prices gained 16 cents to $61.56 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices hiked $4.50 at $1,290.10 U.S. an ounce.
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