Stock futures pointed to a higher opening for Canada's main stock index as a weaker dollar boosted prices of commodities such as oil, gold and copper. U.S. stock index futures advanced ahead of the release of U.S. Treasury Department’s monthly budget report for May
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 74.38 points to close Tuesday at 14,817.71
The Canadian dollar leaped 0.70 cents to 81.77 cents U.S. early Wednesday.
Hudson's Bay Co reported a bigger adjusted loss, mainly due to higher administrative expenses and costs of sales. The company reported a net loss of $54 million, or 30 Canadian cents per share, in the first quarter, compared with a net profit of $176 million, or 97 cents per share, a year earlier.
Adjusted loss was $33 million in the quarter ended May 2, bigger than the $27 million it incurred a year earlier. Sales rose 11.7 percent to $2.07 billion.
Hedge fund and activist shareholder FrontFour Capital Corp said on Tuesday it plans to vote against the proposed sale of troubled Legacy Oil + Gas to Crescent Point Energy Corp. Connecticut-based FrontFour owns 6.8% of outstanding Legacy shares and said in April it planned to nominate three directors to the debt-ridden company's board. Crescent Point agreed to acquire Legacy for shares and debt in a deal valued at $1.53 billion.
KBW raised target price on Canaccord Genuity Group Inc to $8.00 from $7.00 after the company beat estimates, primarily driven by the firm's investment banking and advisory businesses.
Susquehanna cut the price target on Canadian National Railway Co to $66.00 from $68.00, given the sharper than expected rollover in shale-related and other bulk traffic for the company.
Susquehanna cut the price target on Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. to $185.00 from $189.00 citing weaker demand and negative mix for coal and grain.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 4.76 points Tuesday to 684.27
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures are moving up ahead of the open.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials hiked 51 points, or 0.3%, to 17,818, futures for the S&P 500 gained 7.5 points, or 0.4%, to 2,087.50, and futures for the NASDAQ took on 12.75 points, or 0.3%, to 4,444.25.
Shares in oil services firm Transocean are up by about 2.5% pre-market, tracking the rising price of crude oil futures.
Krispy Kreme, Men's Wearhouse and Box, an online file sharing and cloud storage company, will report after the close.
Box made a sparkling debut in January when its stock climbed 66% on its first day of trading, but its share prices have since fallen by about 30%.
European markets are mostly moving up in early trading, while Asian markets ended with mixed results.
Oil prices gained $1.53 to $61.67 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices gained $9.40 at $1,187.00 U.S. an ounce.
