Canadian stocks looked set to open flat on Tuesday
The S&P/TSX composite index backtracked 68.12 to finish Monday at 14,697.03. June futures inched back 0.01%.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.28 cents to 91.55 cents U.S. early Tuesday.
BCE Inc, Canada's largest telecommunications company, reported a better-than-expected adjusted profit, helped by its acquisition of TV and radio content producer Astral Media and strong growth in its wireless business.
WestJet Airlines Ltd, Canada's second-largest carrier, reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit due to a rise in traffic and ticket prices as well as expansion into new destinations.
CIBC raised the rating on Canfor Corp to outperform from sector perform
RBC raised the target price on Parkland Fuel to $22 from $21, maintaining a sector perform rating.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported this morning that our exports declined 1.4% in March, while imports edged up 0.4%.
As a result, Canada's trade surplus with the world narrowed from $847 million in February to $79 million in March.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange moved lower 5.01 points Monday to 1,009.45
ON WALLSTREET
If U.S. stock markets climb, this will be the eighth consecutive positive Tuesday.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials dropped one point to 16,443. Futures for the S&P 500 inched up 0.5 points at 1,876.30, and futures for the NASDAQ also poked ahead 0.5 points to 3,591.25.
The S&P 500 has returned around 9% year-to-date on Tuesdays, posting gains that day every week except two in 2014.
In corporate news, drugmaker Merck announced that it will sell its consumer care business to Bayer AG for $14.2 billion U.S. Merck shares edged up before the open.
DirecTV shares bumped up ahead of the open after the satellite TV company reported stronger-than-expected earnings, despite a quarterly slide in net profit year over year.
Office Depot shares surged 9% in pre-market trading after announcing better-than-expected earnings and plans to close 400 stores.
Groupon, Disney and Whole Foods will report after the close.
Looking to the day ahead, the Census Bureau will report the U.S. trade balance this morning.
Overall, European markets were mixed in morning trading. Barclays was dragging the London FTSE 100 index down.
Markets in Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong were closed Tuesday. But the other Asian markets made gains.
Oil prices slipped seven cents to $99.41 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices dropped $2.50 to $1,306.80 U.S. an ounce.
