Stock futures pointed to a lower start for Canada's main stock index on Wednesday as investors awaited the outcome of the U.S. Federal Reserve's two-day meeting, which ends this afternoon.
The S&P/TSX composite index moved higher 35.77 points, after spending most of Tuesday in negative country, to close at 14,898.53. Futures skidded 0.3% Wednesday morning.
The Canadian dollar stepped back 0.04 to 78.16 cents U.S. early Wednesday.
Paradigm Capital raises the rating on Agjunction Inc to buy from hold.
Raymond James cut the target price on Savanna Energy Services to $2.00 from $2.50, with a market perform rating.
Barclays raised the target price on Alimentation Couche-Tard to $51.00 from $44.00.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that wholesale trade for January recorded the largest monthly decline since January 2009, decreasing 3.1% to $53.7 billion, which more than offset the gain in December.
The agency goes on to say sales were down in four of seven sub-sectors, led by motor vehicle and parts. Excluding this sub-sector, wholesale sales declined 1.3%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange shed 4.61 points Tuesday to 659.23
ON WALLSTREET
All eyes are on the U.S. Federal Reserve as it ends its two-day policy meeting. The Fed is expected to leave monetary policy unchanged, but rates are widely forecast to go up this summer.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials lost 90 points, or 0.5%, to 17,687. Futures for the S&P 500 sagged 8.75 points, or 0.4%, to 2,057.50, and futures for the NASDAQ dropped 17 points, or 0.4%, to 4,353.50.
Shares in Sony jumped by 5.5% in Japan after the company announced final third quarter results showing sales and profits were better than preliminary figures reported in February.
Shares in British bank Standard Chartered are rising by about 7% in London. Analysts have been raising their ratings on the stock, according to reports. Investors have become more optimistic about the struggling bank after it said it would install a new CEO, Bill Winters, who previously worked as the co-head of JP Morgan's investment bank.
Shares in BMW are declining by about 3% in Germany after the automaker posted higher annual sales and profits, but the growth wasn't enough to impress shareholders.
FedEx and General Mills are reporting ahead of the open.
Williams-Sonoma and Guess will report after the close.
European markets are mixed in early trading. Asian markets also ended with mixed results.
But the DAX index in Germany is edging lower as anti-austerity protests outside the European Central Bank's new headquarters turn violent.
Oil prices dipped $1.12 to $42.34 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices gave back 50 cents to $1,147.70 U.S. an ounce.
