The Toronto stock market headed for a lower ahead of a long-awaited unveiling of new product by BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. and data showing a surprising weakening of the American economy in the fourth quarter.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 14.65 points to end Tuesday at 12,830.56, with futures Wednesday down 0.2%
The Canadian dollar shed 0.22 cents to 99.67 cents U.S. early Wednesday.
The innovative line of BlackBerry smartphones that Research In Motion Ltd will formally unveil on Wednesday has already succeeded on one crucial count - getting RIM back in the conversation.
Label and specialty packages maker CCL Industries Inc. said it would buy two businesses of U.S. label and office supplies maker Avery Dennison Corp for $500 million.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange moved up 14.04 points Tuesday to 1,231.92
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures fell Wednesday after a government report showed that the U.S. economy contracted during the fourth quarter of 2012.
Futures for the Dow Industrials stepped back seven points to 13,901. Futures for the S&P 500 demurred three points, or 0.2%, to 1,502.10, and futures for the NASDAQ picked up two points, or 0.1%, to 2,744.75
U.S. stocks closed higher Tuesday, pushing the Dow and the S&P 500 closer to new all-time highs. The Dow is less than 2% away from its all-time high of 14,198.10 reached in October 2007, while the S&P 500 is less than 5% away from its record high of 1,576.09, also reached in October 2007.
In corporate news, the launch of the long-awaited BlackBerry 10, which the ailing Research in Motion hopes will change its fortunes in the smartphone market, is slated for Wednesday. Shares of RIM rose 2% in premarket trading.
Boeing, which has been dogged over the past few weeks by problems with its now-grounded 787 Dreamliner fleet, topped fourth-quarter earnings forecasts. The aircraft maker says it does not expect a significant financial impact from the grounding of the 787s. Shares of Boeing edged higher.
Amazon shares climbed 9% after the online retailer reported a 22% increase in fourth-quarter sales late Tuesday.
Oil producer Phillips 66 shares rose after the company's beat earnings expectations.
Facebook headlines the list of firms reporting after the close.
Shares of Chesapeake Energy surged 10% in premarket trading after the natural-gas producer announced that embattled CEO Aubrey McClendon will retire in April.
European markets were down in afternoon trading. Asian markets finished with solid gains, led by Japan's Nikkei, which gained 2.3% to close above 11,000 points.
On the economic front, U.S. gross domestic product declined 0.1% last quarter, marking the first year-over-year contraction since the second quarter of 2009. The drop was a big surprise, as analysts were expecting that the economy grew 1% last quarter, according to a consensus estimate of economists.
Also on the economic front, payroll processor ADP said private American employers added 192,000 jobs in January, higher than the 175,000 jobs that analysts were expecting. The ADP report is the first of three this week to provide a snapshot of nation's job market.
In the afternoon, the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee will release a statement upon the conclusion of its latest meeting, which investors will scrutinize for clues about when the central bank's bond-buying program will end.
Minutes from the Fed's December meeting showed that some members were weighing whether the central bank should wrap up the program, known as QE3, before the end of this year.
Oil prices added 42 cents to $97.99 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices garnered $1.60 an ounce to $1,662.40 U.S.
