Stock futures pointed to a lower opening for equities in Toronto on Tuesday as the plunge in oil prices and failure of an emergency interest rate hike by Russia to stabilize the ruble sent another shock through global financial markets.
The S&P/TSX composite index fell 25.91 points to end Monday at 13,705.14, with Tuesday futures off 0.3%.
The Canadian dollar hiked 0.17 cents to 85.85 U.S. early Tuesday.
Repsol has agreed to buy Talisman Energy, Canada's fifth-largest independent oil producer, for $13 billion, showing how the drop in oil prices is pushing energy companies to take the plunge on big M&A deals.
Encana Corp., Canada's largest natural gas producer, said it would spend more in 2015 as it shifts its focus to its four higher-margin oil-rich shale fields.
The federal government said British mobile phone operator Vodafone Group Plc will get $850 million in Canadian trade financing to help it buy enterprise services from BlackBerry Ltd.
Barclays raised the price target on Empire Co to $90 from $82
Raymond James raised the price target on HudBay Minerals to outperform from market perform
Raymond James cut the target price on Teck Resources to $17 from $20
In the economic docket, Statistics Canada reported that manufacturing sales declined 0.6% in October.
The agency also said foreign investment in Canadian securities strengthened to $9.5 billion in October, of both bonds and equity instruments. At the same time, Canadian investment in foreign securities slowed to $293 million, down from an $8.3-billion investment in September.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange faltered 10.44 points Monday to 643.34
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures were moving lower, setting the stage for a third consecutive day of declines. European markets were all dropping in afternoon trading. Nearly all Asian markets closed with losses.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials sagged 107 points, or 0.6%, to 17,018. Futures for the S&P 500 lost seven points, or 0.4%, to 1,976.25, and futures for the NASDAQ slid 23.75 points, or 0.6%, to 4,136.50.
Darden Restaurants, the owner of chains like the Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, will report earnings after the closing bell.
The U.S. government will release monthly data on housing starts and building permits this morning.
The latest dip is being blamed on China, where new data from HSBC shows sentiment among key managers in the manufacturing sector dipped to a seven-month low in December. This data raises red flags about economic growth and demand for oil in the world's biggest importer.
The unexpectedly sharp fall in prices this year -- down by more than 45% since June -- is wreaking havoc on many oil-producing nations and creating unexpected knock-on effects around the world.
The Russian currency continues to fall sharply Tuesday despite a shock overnight rise in interest rates to 17% from 10.5%. The ruble is off by about 13% for the day and has fallen by roughly 57% versus the U.S. dollar since the start of the year.
Russia, which relies heavily on its energy sector, is getting hurt by falling oil prices and tit-for-tat sanctions with various Western nations.
Oil prices lost $1.81 to $54.10 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices jumped $6.10 to $1,213.80 U.S. an ounce.
