Equity markets in Toronto looked set to open higher on Tuesday despite some disappointing U.S. earnings pre-announcements in the previous session that fuelled worries that the upcoming reporting season may disappoint.
The S&P/TSX composite index slid 66.04 points to close Monday at 13,681.48, with futures up 0.2%.
The Canadian dollar slid another 0.36 cents to 91.73 cents U.S. early Tuesday
Corus Entertainment Inc's quarterly profit nearly tripled after the company gained from the recent acquisition of specialty television services.
Drugmakers Valeant Pharmaceuticals, Actavis Plc and Mylan Inc have all expressed interest in buying Pfizer Inc's branded generics business, but no active discussions are going on at this time, according to three people close to the matter.
Cogeco Cable reported an 18% rise in quarterly profit, helped by recent acquisitions.
Two of Canada's largest newspaper publishers, including Postmedia Network Canada announced another round of layoffs on Monday, as the industry cuts costs to offset sharp declines in sales of print advertising.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange moved lower 1.67 points to 964.88
ON WALLSTREET
It looks like markets could regain their footing Tuesday after the worst day in three months, a selloff Monday triggered by jitters about the upcoming earnings season.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials gained 32 points, or 0.2%, to 16,246. Futures for the S&P 500 took on 2.1 points, or 0.1%, to 1,817.20, and futures for the NASDAQ strengthened 7.75 points, or 0.2%, to 3,517.25.
The first of the big banks are releasing earnings before the opening bell.
JPMorgan Chase posted fourth-quarter profit of $5.3 billion U.S., including a $1.1-billion U.S. writeoff for legal expenses.
Wells Fargo is also slated to release quarterly results before the market open.
Investors are readying themselves for a slew of quarterly earnings announcements over the coming weeks.
In economic news, the U.S. Census Bureau will release its monthly report on retail sales this morning.
One analyst noted that a new report from Goldman Sachs said S&P 500 multiples were lofty by almost any measure and further expansion would be difficult to achieve.
Market losses were also spurred on after Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said he would support the Federal Reserve in continuing to taper its stimulus program, provided the economy continues to improve.
The Fed's stimulus program -- involving billions of dollars in asset purchases -- helped support a massive stock market run-up in 2013.
Google announced Monday afternoon that it was buying connected device maker Nest Labs for $3.2 billion U.S.
Also on Monday, Charter Communications said it had formally proposed acquiring Time Warner Cable. Time Warner Cable flatly rejected the offer.
European markets were declining in morning trading. Asian markets ended mixed.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan tumbled by just over 3%.
Oil prices boosted 32 cents to $92.12 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices gave back three dollars to $1,248.10 U.S. an ounce.
