Toronto's main stock index looked set to open higher on Tuesday, taking cues from its U.S. and European counterparts and helped by firmer commodity prices.
Stocks to watch this morning in Canada include Ivanhoe Mines, being eyed by Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto as a buyout target. Reportedly, an independent arbitrator had cleared the way for it to bid for Ivanhoe but said it had no current intention of making an offer.
Meantime, oil sands producer Connacher Oil & Gas Ltd. finds investors are turning up the pressure on the company to begin a formal sales process.
The Canadian dollar inched up 0.07 cents to 97.46 cents U.S.
U.S. stock futures and European markets made small gains Tuesday morning on positive data from Germany and in anticipation of U.S. Federal Reserve's announcement on monetary policy.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 55 points, or 0.5%, while those on the S&P 500 index rose 6.5 points, or 0.6%, and Nasdaq futures advanced 14.5 points or 0.6%.
Tuesday is a busy day in the U.S. economic calendar, with data on November retail sales due at 8:30 a.m. EST. Early reports suggest retail sales climbed in November as Americans bought more new cars and began their holiday shopping. Data on October business inventories and job opening and labour turnover will also be released at 10 a.m. EST.
However, the main focus will be on the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee and its statement on monetary policy, due out at 2:15 p.m. EST. Markets are expecting the key interest rate to remain at an historic low range of zero to 0.25%
European stocks climbed Tuesday in reaction to the ZEW indicator of economic sentiment for Germany, which rose by 1.4 points to minus 53.8 in December, breaking a nine-month downward trend.
The index aims to predict developments six months in advance, and ZEW President Wolfgang Franz said industry experts are forecasting economic activity to slow but not plunge during that time.
In London, the FTSE 100 gained nearly 1%, while Paris’ CAC-40 moved higher by 0.1% and Frankfurt’s DAX index picked up 0.5%
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell, or 1.2%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.7%
Crude oil futures jumped 61 cents to $98.38 U.S. a barrel
Gold futures climbed 40 cents to $1,668.60 U.S. an ounce.
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