Stock futures pointed to a higher opening for Canada's main stock index on Wednesday.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 88.19 points to close Tuesday at 15,188.84, with June futures increasing 0.2% Wednesday.
The Canadian dollar spiked 0.61 cents to 80.56 cents U.S. early Wednesday.
Transport Minister Lisa Raitt said on Tuesday the federal government would like to finalize specifications for a new version of the tank cars used to transport crude oil by rail by the end of this month.
Manulife Financial Corp is close to an about-$1-billion deal to sell products through Singapore lender DBS Group Holdings' branch network across Asia, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said.
Paradigm Capital cut the target price on Teck Resources to $26.00 from $28.50
RBC raised the target price on CGI Group to $60.00 from $54.00
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 0.91 points Tuesday to 689.57
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures are looking solid, European markets are mostly rising in early trading, and Asian markets ended with mixed results.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials gained 23 points, or 0.1%, to 17,808. Futures for the S&P 500 picked up 2.75 points, or 0.1%, to 2,070.50, and futures for the NASDAQ advanced eight points, or 0.2%, to 4,342.
A trickle of earnings is set to come through Wednesday. Family Dollar and Rite Aid are reporting quarterly results ahead of the open.
Alcoa and Bed Bath & Beyond will report after the close.
The earnings will really start flowing next week when we'll hear from big banks including Citigroup and Goldman Sachs
U.S. investors are eagerly awaiting the 2 p.m. ET release of the Federal Reserve's minutes from its latest meeting. Wall Streeters like to parse through the details of the document in an effort to get a better sense of when the Fed may begin raising interest rates.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan was in the spotlight Wednesday after it left monetary policy unchanged.
Shares in oil major Royal Dutch Shell are dropping by about 6% in London after the company said it inked a $70-billion U.S. deal to buy British oil and gas firm, BG Group. Shell is offering a 50% premium for the purchase.
Traders reacted by bidding up BG shares by about 38%.
Investors in Europe are continuing to watch the ongoing Greek drama as they worry the country may be on the brink of default.
Greece's prime minister is heading to Moscow Wednesday to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and there's a chance Putin might offer help in the form of cheaper gas.
Greece is facing a big debt payment this week, but the government has reassured markets that it has the money to pay and avoid default.
Oil prices slipped $1.24 to $52.74 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices fell $2.30 to $1,208.30 U.S. an ounce.
