Stock futures pointed to a higher start for stock markets in Toronto on Wednesday as crude prices extended gains for a third straight day.
The S&P/TSX composite index forged higher 48.48 points, to close at 13,082.86. March futures were up 0.9%.
The Canadian dollar inched up 0.07 cents to 71.90 cents U.S. early Wednesday
A $460-million settlement fund for victims of the 2013 Lac-Megantic crude-by-rail disaster will begin disbursements this week without the participation of Canadian Pacific Railway.
BMO cut the rating on Tourmaline Oil Corp to market perform from outperform.
RBC initiated coverage on Northern Blizzard Resources with sector perform rating
M Partners resumes coverage on Newcastle Gold with a buy rating
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported that Gross Domestic Product was unchanged in October, after falling 0.5% in September.
Gains in mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction as well as the public sector were offset by declines in manufacturing, utilities and retail trade.
The agency also said retail sales edged up 0.1% in October to $43.4 billion. Sales were up in seven of 11 sub-sectors, representing 59% of retail trade.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange regained 0.45 points Tuesday to 502.04
ON WALLSTREET
It's the last full day of action in New York before traders sign out for Christmas.
U.S. stock futures are ticking higher on what's expected to be a slow day heading into the holidays.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials rocketed 165.65 points, or 1%, to 17,417.27, futures for the S&P 500 gained 17.82 points, or 0.9%, to 2,019. NASDAQ futures hiked 32.19 points, or 0.7%, to 5,001.11
Beleaguered restaurant chain Chipotle is down 2% ahead of the open on reports of more E. coli cases tied to the popular Mexican food chain.
Chip maker Micron Technology reported unimpressive quarterly earnings Tuesday evening, causing its shares to plunge nearly 6% pre-market.
Nike shares are higher in pre-market trading after beating earnings expectations.
This morning, the Bureau of Economic Analysis will release data on personal income and expenditures in November.
At the same time, November's report on manufactures' durable goods orders is due from the Census Bureau.
The bureau will also post new home sales data for November at 10 a.m.
At 10:30 a.m., the weekly update to U.S. crude inventories data will be released.
European markets are up more than 1% in early trading, while Asian markets ended mixed. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong closed up nearly 1% with oil shares powering the gains. Japan was closed for the Emperor’s birthday.
Oil prices took on 62 cents to $36.76 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices faded 46 cents to $1,071.97 U.S. an ounce.
