Equities in Toronto looked set to open sharply lower on Tuesday, hurt by concerns the slow global economy will continue to weigh on corporate earnings and Moody's credit downgrade of five Spanish regions.
The S&P/TSX composite fell 12.44 points to finish Monday at 12,403.54. Futures traded down nearly 1% Tuesday morning.
The Canadian dollar backed off 0.53 cents Tuesday morning to 100.27 cents U.S.
Among stocks to watch, Canadian National Railway Co. posted a modest increase in quarterly profit on Monday as revenues climbed for all its business segments, and affirmed its full-year forecast despite its caution over the economy.
TransCanada Corp.said on Monday it had restarted its major oil pipeline to the central United States from Canada following a five-day outage to check for a potential defect on the line in the U.S. Midwest.
Speaking of things economic, figures released this morning by Statistics Canada revealed that etail sales rose 0.3% to $39.1 billion in August. However, factoring out the effects of price changes, particularly higher food and gasoline prices, retail sales in volume terms declined 0.3%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange fell 7.19 points Monday to 1,308.43
ON WALLSTREET
Stock futures turned sharply lower Tuesday after three Dow components issued disappointing earnings and forecasts.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials drained 142 points, or 1.1%, to 13,150, about 30 minutes before the opening bell. Futures for the S&P 500 gave back 18 points, or 1.3%, to 1,412.10, and for the Nasdaq, futures slid 30.5 points, or 1.1%, to 2,657.25
Shares DuPont fell 5% ahead of the bell after the Dow component reported weaker-than-expected quarterly earnings and announced plans to cut 1,500 jobs worldwide. Another Dow component, United Technologies, reported better-than-expected earnings but missed on revenue and lowered its revenue forecast for next year.
Economic bellwether and Dow component 3M reported earnings that were in line with forecasts, but the company missed revenue estimates and pulled back on its guidance.
UPS, another economic bellwether, reported results that were roughly in line with expectations.
After the bell, Facebook and Netflix will release their reports.
Futures were already pointing to a lower open as news surrounding Spain unnerved investors.
The euro fell below the key $1.30 U.S. level after ratings agency Moody's downgraded five of Spain's regional governments, including Catalonia -- the largest.
And the gross domestic product for Spain, which has been mired in recession for months, fell by 0.4% in the third quarter from the second quarter, according to data released Tuesday from the Bank of Spain.
European stocks were lower in midday trading. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 1.2%, the DAX in Germany lost 1.4% and France's CAC 40 declined 0.8%.
Asian markets closed mixed. The Shanghai Composite slid 0.6% and Japan's Nikkei 225 was little changed. The Hong Kong exchange was closed for a holiday.
Oil for December delivery fell $1.13 to $87.53 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for December delivery plummeted $14 to $1,712.20 U.S. an ounce.
