Futures tracking Canada's main stock index rose on Wednesday as gold prices gained on a softer U.S. dollar, while oil prices rose amid lingering worries about a potential military conflict between the U.S. and Iran.
The TSX jumped 193.88 points to finish Tuesday at 33,970.38, a record high, led by gains for metal mining stocks and shares of Thomson Reuters.
March futures gained 0.3% Wednesday.
Meanwhile, automotive fleet manager Element Fleet Management reported fourth-quarter profit marginally lower than estimates in aftermarket earnings.
Investors will keep an eye on Bank of Montreal and National Bank of Canada, which will report their earnings before the bell.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 14.28 points, or 1.4%, Tuesday to 1,065.30.
ON WALLSTREET
Stock futures were slightly higher Wednesday ahead of a key earnings report from Nvidia.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials gained 130 points, or 0.3%, to 49.366.
Futures for the S&P 500 added 18.5 points, or 0.3% to 6,922.25.
Futures for the NASDAQ tacked on 117 points, or 0.4%, to 25,145.35.
Lifting the broader market Tuesday was a nearly 9% gain in Advanced Micro Devices, which rose after Meta Platforms announced a multiyear deal with the semiconductor company.
Software and cybersecurity stocks also saw a relief rally in the regular session after Anthropic launched a new connectors and plugins for its knowledge worker tool, Claude Cowork, that will allow companies to connect the AI tool to their existing apps such as Google Drive. Claude Cowork rattled the software sector in recent weeks as investors feared the tool would disrupt incumbent software vendors’ businesses.
Results come ahead of figures from software giant Salesforce and Snowflake, due after Wednesday’s market close. Results from Nvidia come at a time when investors are recalibrating lofty tech stock valuations and growing skeptical on hyperscalers’ high AI capital expenditures.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose sharply, 2.2%, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng surged 0.7%.
Oil prices grabbed 33 cents to $65.96 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices flew $26.90 to $5,203.20 U.S an ounce.
