Futures tracking Canada's resource-heavy stock index fell on Wednesday as commodity prices dropped on rising bets of U.S. interest rate hikes, while weakness on Wall Street also weighed on the mood.
The TSX remained buoyant 42.71 points to close Tuesday at 20,684.68.
June futures on the S&P/TSX index skidded 0.4% Wednesday morning.
The Canadian dollar lost 0.28 cents to 74.38 cents U.S.
In company news, Glencore has told Teck Resources shareholders it is willing to improve its $22.5-billion takeover offer, raising the pressure on the Canadian miner to ditch a restructuring plan and sit down at the negotiating table.
Suncor Energy reported the release of 5,900 cubic metres (208,400 cubic feet) of water with more than twice the approved level of suspended solids from a sedimentation pond at its Fort Hills oil sands project in northern Alberta.
Jefferies downgraded drug developer Bellus Health to "hold" from "buy", while RBC Capital Markets downgraded the stock to "sector perform" from "outperform."
On the economic calendar, the Raw Materials Price Index decreased 1.7% on a monthly basis in March and was down 16.5% year over year.
The Industrial Product Price Index edged up 0.1% in March from the previous month and fell 1.8% year over year.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said housing starts in Canada slipped by 11% over a month earlier to 213,865 units in March of 2023, undershooting market expectations of 227,800 units.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange backpedaled 1.2 points to close Tuesday’s session at 630.49.
ON WALLSTREET
Stock futures ticked downward Wednesday as traders weighed the latest round of earnings and sticky global inflation.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials tumbled 126 points, or 0.4%, at 33,998.
Futures for the S&P 500 dropped 24.5 points, or 0.6%, to 4,155.50.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite slumped 107 points, or 0.8%, to 13,086.
Netflix shares fell slightly in the premarket as the streaming giant disappointed investors by pushing back plans to more strictly clamp down on password sharing. In its latest quarter, the company beat analysts’ expectations on earnings per share, but fell short of estimates on revenue. Netflix added 1.75 million subscribers last quarter, more than the Street expected.
Elsewhere, earnings reports from major banking institutions wrapped up with Morgan Stanley. The Wall Street behemoth’s stock fell 3% premarket despite posting better-than-expected results. Investors have been closely monitoring industry results after bank failures last month rattled the sector.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 dipped 0.2% Wednesday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng fell 1.4%.
Oil prices removed $1.72 to $79.14 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dimmed $38.10 to $1,981.60 U.S. an ounce.
