Stocks in Toronto looked set to open lower on Tuesday after a long weekend, playing catch up with a decline in global equity markets on Monday, as the International Monetary Fund cut its projected global output for 2012 for the second time since April.
Toronto's stock market was closed on Monday for Canadian Thanksgiving.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed Friday off 28.69 points to 12,418.99, as futures fell 0.6%.
The Canadian dollar picked up 0.22 cents Tuesday morning to 102.59 cents U.S.
On the economic calendar, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported this morning that he annual rate of housing starts declined in September to 220,215, down from 225,328 a month earlier.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange improved 4.13 points to 1,344.98
ON WALLSTREET
Stock futures were little changed Tuesday as investors gear up for the start of the third-quarter earnings season.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials grew 19 points, or 0.1%, to 13,520 about 30 minutes before the opening bell. Futures for the S&P 500 took on 3.1 points, or 0.2%, to 1,452.90, but for the Nasdaq, futures slid 0.25 points, to 2,777.25
Aluminum producer Alcoa, considered a bellwether of the economy because of its global reach, will be the first Dow component to report after the bell. It does so on the day that marks five years since the Dow and S&P indices hit all-time highs.
Analysts are expecting third quarter earnings for the S&P 500 to decline 1.4%, according to S&P Capital IQ. That would be the worst results for stocks since the third quarter of 2009.
Also on tap to report Tuesday is KFC and Taco Bell owner Yum Brands, which has a big presence in China. The week will culminate with the first big bank earnings: JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo are both set to report before the market opens on Friday.
European stocks were mixed in morning trading. Britain's FTSE 100 shed 0.2%, while the DAX in Germany lost 0.4% and France's CAC 40 rose 0.2%.
Asian markets ended mixed. The region welcomed the latest intervention by the People's Bank of China, which injected 265 billion yuan into money markets. But fears also persist over a China-Japan territorial dispute concerning a band of islands and the effect it's already starting to have on Japanese exports to China. The Shanghai Composite gained 1.97% and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 0.5%, while Japan's Nikkei 225 shed 1%.
Oil prices rose 75 cents to $90.08 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices rose $1.50 to $1,777.20 U.S. an ounce.
