Stock futures pointed to a lower opening for Canada's main stock index on Tuesday as the slide in oil prices showed no sign of easing.
The S&P/TSX composite index faltered 360.95 points, or 1.9%, to close Monday at 14,392.70, with Tuesday futures down 0.1%.
The Canadian dollar slipped 0.08 cents to 84.96 cents U.S. early Monday.
Major automakers reported their best ever Canadian sales performance last year, with Ford holding on to the top sales spot for 2014, despite a late surge by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV's Canadian unit.
CIBC cut price target on Bank of Montreal to $86.00 from $87.00.
CIBC raised the price target on RBC, however, to $88 from $86
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported this morning that its Industrial Product Price Index dropped 0.4% in November, mainly because of lower prices for energy and petroleum products.
The agency’s Raw Materials Price Index declined 5.8% in November, mostly due to lower prices for crude energy products.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange was negative 12.83 points Monday to 693.99
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures are pushing lower Tuesday, a day after markets took a sharp fall.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials were unchanged at 17,450. Futures for the S&P 500 were off 0.25 points to 2,015.75, and futures for the NASDAQ were also down 0.25 points to 4,161.50.
Toyota said it would share more than 5,000 fuel cell patents with competitors, in the hope of kick starting commercial production of hydrogen-powered cars.
The world's biggest car maker made the announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Investors have grown increasingly concerned about falling oil prices and a souring global economy. Oil prices dipped below $50 U.S. a barrel Monday -- the first time they've hit that level since the Great Recession in April 2009.
All major European markets were in the red in early trading, with many indexes down by about 1%.
The latest gauge of European economic activity from Markit showed the region's services and manufacturing industries grew at a sluggish pace in December.
The euro is relatively steady against the U.S. dollar, trading near a nine-year low of $1.19.
Most Asian markets closed the session with big losses, taking their cue from the U.S. drop. The Nikkei in Japan led the decliners with a 3% loss.
Oil prices slid $1.05 to $48.99 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices hiked $9.20 to $1,213.10 U.S. an ounce.
