The Toronto stock market appeared set for a slightly lower open Tuesday as oil prices advanced and traders took another mass downgrade of the credit worthiness of six European countries in stride.
The Canadian dollar advanced, up 0.09 of a cent to 100.16 cents U.S.
On the corporate front, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. said that its Horizon oilsands mine won't return to full production until mid-to-late March. Output has been suspended since Feb. 5 as the energy giant made repairs to its upgrader, which processes thick, sticky bitumen from the oilsands into a type of crude refineries can handle.
The outage has caused Canadian Natural to lower its 2012 Horizon output targets to between 93,000 and 103,000 barrels per day of synthetic crude oil from 105,000 to 115,000 barrels per day.
The latest from Statistics Canada this morning is that car sales dipped in this country for a second consecutive month, down 3.0% in December to 133,146 units, mainly because sales in Ontario and Alberta were off.
U.S. stocks index futures were lower with about half an hour before markets open, suggesting that stocks will rise at the start of trading. Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average were down three points to 12,382. Futures for the broader S&P 500 fell 3.10 points or 0.2% to 1,346, and for the Nasdaq, futures sank 4.25, or 0.2%, to 2,563.50
Both indexes rose on Monday, following a weekend agreement that should see Greece receive bailout funds from the euro-zone in exchange for austerity measures, removing some uncertainty that the country was sliding toward a messy default.
Now, Moody's decision to cut Spain's credit rating by two notches, cut Italy and Portugal's ratings by one notch and warn the U.K., France and Austria about their ratings looks as though it won't interrupt the upbeat feelings.
The mass downgrades weren't a big surprise, given that Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings have already made their own adjustments to European ratings. A better-than-expected gain in Germany's investor sentiment in February helped matters.
Commodity prices were mixed. Crude oil rose to $101.53 U.S. a barrel, up 0.6%.
Gold fell to $1,722 U.S. an ounce, down 0.2%
