Canada's main stock index opened flat on Wednesday, with materials and energy sectors among the biggest decliners, while investors awaited the release of the minutes of U.S. Federal Reserve's November policy meeting.
The TSX Composite gained 28.76 points, to kick off Wednesday at 20,248.77.
The Canadian dollar ditched 0.08 cents to 74.75 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange let go of 1.72 points to 574.66.
The 12 TSX subgroups were evenly divided first thing Wednesday, as information technology took on 0.7%, financials added 0.6%, and utilities were up 0.4%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by energy, down 0.5%, while materials and consumer staples each subsided 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks rose Wednesday, as investors looked ahead to Federal Reserve meeting minutes for clues into the pace of future interest rate hikes.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 109.99 points to start out Wednesday at 34,209.39
The S&P 500 obtained 19.37 points to 4,022.95.
The NASDAQ ticked higher 149.9 points, or 1.4%, to 11,174.41.
Shares of Nordstrom fell more than 7% after the department store chain reaffirmed its forecast. However, Nordstrom beat profit and sales expectations in its latest results, according to consensus expectations on Refinitiv. Tesla rose 2.6% in early trading after Citi upgraded shares to neutral from sell.
Jobless claims data came in higher than expected at 240,000 for the week ending Nov. 19 where economists expected 225,000, signaling that the labour market may be weakening. At the same time, however, durable goods orders for October were stronger than anticipated, coming in at 1%, more than the 0.5% expected.
Investors are awaiting the latest Fed meeting minutes, due Wednesday afternoon, for insight into the central bank’s approach on monetary policy ahead of the December meeting.
Earlier in November, the central bank approved a fourth consecutive 0.75-percentage-point hike that brought rates to their highest level since 2008. Economists are forecasting a half percentage point increase in December, and smaller rate hikes next year.
Markets will be closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday and will close early on Friday.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained ground, lowering yields to 3.72% from Tuesday’s 3.76%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices sank $3.03 to $77.92 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices forged ahead $2.10 to $1,742.00 U.S. an ounce.
