Canadian stocks looked set to open little changed on Tuesday with June futures up 0.01%
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 38.82 points to end Monday at 15,040.43. The index rose to within 80 points of its record high on Monday as positive investor sentiment spurred gains in its heavyweight financial and energy sectors.
The Canadian dollar shed 0.16 cents to 92.06 U.S. early Tuesday
Canadian economists are not too concerned about low inflation, Finance Minister Joe Oliver said after meeting several of them on Monday, sending a different message than the one sounded recently by Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz.
The minister also expressed willingness to consider a recommendation that mortgage insurance cover only part of the losses from a default by the borrower.
Potash Corp of Saskatchewan said on Monday it will rescind layoff notices affecting 50 workers at its Penobsquis, New Brunswick, facility due to tight conditions in the granular potash market.
Bombardier said on Monday that it has laid off more than 100 staff and let go 110 contract workers in the United States and Mexico owing to delays in the flight test program for its all-new Learjet 85 business jet.
Raymond James raised the rating on Alacer Gold to outperform from market perform
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange remained positive 1.34 points Monday to 998.22
ON WALLSTREET
The markets are back in risk-on mode.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials gained 20 points, or 0.1%, to 16,722. Futures for the S&P 500 tacked on 2.4 points, or 0.1%, to 1,931.60, and futures for the NASDAQ moved forward 7.5 points, or 0.2%, to 3,780.
There are a handful of earnings coming out Tuesday. Adobe Systems and La-Z-Boy are the two main companies reporting their quarterly numbers after the close.
Shares in Yahoo remained under pressure ahead of the open after Alibaba -- which is partially owned by Yahoo -- reported slowing growth.
Medtronic stock was rising by more than 2%. The company said this week that it was buying rival Covidien for $42.9 billion U.S. in a deal that could reduce the firm's tax payments.
American conglomerate GE is looking to take over a large business unit from the French firm Alstom, but it's facing a competing bid from Germany's Siemens. Shares in Alstom were down by just over 1% in Europe.
The U.S. Census Bureau will release data on housing starts and building permits for May this morning, and, at the same time, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics will publish its consumer price index.
Stock markets have been jostled over the last few days as investors worry about developments in Ukraine and Iraq. Now market players seem ready to put their fears behind them in the hopes that the situation in both countries will not deteriorate further.
The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo gained 0.3% after the government released an outline for the next phase of Abenomics, which is designed to boost the nation's economy.
Oil prices fell 50 cents to $106.40 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices dipped $9.60 to $1,265.70 U.S. an ounce.
