The Toronto stock market headed for a negative open Wednesday with buyers inclined to do little on concerns about the worsening euro-zone debt crisis and ahead of Greek elections Sunday.
Attention was focused on Spain and Italy and the higher borrowing costs both countries are facing.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index ended Tuesday up 95.52 points to 11,497.30
The Canadian dollar was down 0.07 of a cent this morning to 97.39 cents U.S.
The Toronto and New York markets registered solid gains Tuesday on hopes the U.S. Federal Reserve was about to step up with a new round of stimulus measures. Comments by Charles Evans, president of the Fed’s Chicago bank, that he supported action to produce faster job growth helped mask concerns about the effectiveness of a Spanish bank rescue announced over the weekend and a downgrade of the country's banks by ratings agency Fitch.
On the earnings front, discount retailer Dollarama Inc. said its first-quarter profit rose 40% to $42.6 million or 56 cents a share, which beat estimates by six cents.
The Montreal-based company’s revenue for the 13 weeks ended April 29 was just under $398 million, up 15% from the comparable period last year.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange docked 7.01 points to 1,269.70. The Nasdaq Canada index added 6.56 points to 368.67
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks pointed to a flat open Wednesday as investors awaited economic reports and new details about trading losses at JPMorgan Chase, while kee ping an eye out for new developments out of Europe.
Futures for the Dow Industrials subsided 25 points, or 0.2%, to 12,489, half an hour before the opening bell, while futures for the S&P 500 deducted 6.40 points, or 0.5%, to 1,313.70. Futures for the tech-rich Nasdaq erased 10.50 points, or 0.4%, to 2,534.50
Uncertainty in Europe could keep trading rocky Wednesday. Investors will continue to watch Spain's troubled banks, whose exposure to bad real estate loans has led Fitch to downgrade 20 of them in the last two days.
Meanwhile, 10-year Spanish bonds are rising to unprecedented levels, even though European finance ministers agreed to give Spain up to €100 billion ($125 billion) in aid. Yields on Italian bonds also remained above the 6% mark, despite a slight decline, after an auction of short-term debt by Italy.
European stocks were slightly lower in midday trading. Britain's FTSE 100 slipped slightly and the DAX in Germany lost 0.4%, while France's CAC 40 edged down 0.2%.
Asian markets ended higher. The Shanghai Composite gained 1.3%, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong rose 0.8% and Japan's Nikkei ended 0.6% higher.
Oil for July delivery slipped 10 cents to $83.22 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for August delivery fell $4 to $1,609.80 U.S. an ounce.
