Toronto's main stock index opened flat on Wednesday, after European Central Bank (ECB) Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny said there are arguments for giving Europe's permanent rescue fund a banking licence.
The S&P/TSX Composite index was negative 1.22 points in the session’s first hour, to 11,465.73
The Canadian dollar added 0.25 cents to 98.08 cents U.S.
Among Canadian stocks to watch this morning, Canadian Pacific Railway, fresh from a proxy battle that ousted its chief executive officer and chairman, reported a 20% drop in quarterly earnings on Wednesday due to the impact of a strike by its engineers in May and management transition costs.
Teck Resources Inc, Canada's largest diversified miner, reported a drop in its second-quarter net profit of nearly 65%, largely due to lower coal and metal prices.
Encana Corp reported a second-quarter net loss as it wrote down assets because of declines in natural gas prices.
Precision Drilling Corp, Canada's largest oil and gas drilling contractor, reported an 11% rise in quarterly profit on higher rates but cut its adjusted capital expenditure plan for the year citing lower-than-expected industry activity.
Elsewhere, oil whiz Ecopetrol said its consolidated net profit fell 2.5 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier to 3.65 trillion pesos, the company said on Tuesday, lower than analyst expectations.
Suncor Energy Inc : The oil producer and refiner posted a second-quarter operating profit that beat analyst expectations, helped by increased production and higher refinery margins.
Bell Aliant Inc. : The telecom services provider posted a lower quarterly profit on higher costs.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange restored 2.63 points to 1,169.10. The Nasdaq Canada index eked up 0.87 points to 330.12.
Eight of the 14 Toronto subgroups began the session negatively. Metals and mining stocks plunged 1.6%, global base metals were off 0.7% and consumer staples were down 0.5%.
The half-dozen gainers were spurred by gold, up 1.6%, while materials and industrials improved 0.5% each.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks opened mixed Wednesday, as investors sorted through a big batch of earnings reports, including solid results from Caterpillar and Boeing, and a big miss from Apple.
The Dow Jones industrial average grew 54.04 points to 12,671.36, with Caterpillar leading the way. Caterpillar, one of the Dow's most heavily weighted stocks, is closely watched as a gauge for global economic strength. Then manufacturing giant beat expectations and raised its outlook for the year.
Boeing was also a big gainer in the Dow. The airplane maker also topped forecasts and boosted its guidance for the year.
The S&P 500 retreated 1.99 points to 1,336.32. Positive earnings results helped keep the broad index in positive territory, but disappointments from Netflix and TripAdvisor put a cap on the gains.
The Nasdaq docked 14.42 points to 2,848.57, dragged lower by Apple's disappointing earnings. Apple is the biggest component of the tech-heavy index by far, and shares were down nearly 4%.
Ford's second-quarter profit dropped 57% to $1 billion U.S., hurt by a loss in the company's European operations. But the automaker's earnings and sales topped Wall Street forecasts, sending shares up.
PepsiCo reported better-than-expected earnings before the opening bell. But, like many global companies, its revenue was hurt by unfavorable currency exchange rates.
Nasdaq, which has been in the spotlight since May following Facebook's botched market debut, also reported results. The exchange operator's revenue and profit rose slightly during the quarter and topped expectations.
Numbers are due from Visa and Zynga after the bell.
Economically speaking, the U.S. Census Bureau is to report data on new home sales for June this morning Sales are expected to have come in at an annual rate of 373,000 units, according to a survey of analysts by Briefing.com.
Also this morning, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will testify before the House Financial Services Committee in Washington.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury was static, keeping yields at Tuesday’s 1.40%.
Oil for September delivery erased 11 cents to $88.39 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for August delivery rose $15.60 to $1,591.80 U.S. an ounce.
