Stock futures pointed to a lower opening for equities in Toronto on Wednesday as investors steered clear of riskier assets on the prospect of persistently low oil prices, which raised concerns about weak global economic growth.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed lower by 82.19 points 12,763.44. March futures shed 1.2% early Wednesday.
The Canadian dollar faded 0.22 cents to 72.27 cents U.S. early Wednesday.
Royal Bank of Canada reported a quarterly profit that missed market estimates on Wednesday, hurt by weakness in its insurance and capital markets businesses.
Encana Corp cut its capital budget and production target for 2016, and said it would slash more jobs as the company struggles to cope with a steep fall in oil prices.
BlackBerry said it has acquired U.K.-based cyber security consultancy Encription, moving the company deeper into the services business as it continues to morph into a more software-focused entity amid its ongoing turnaround.
Canaccord Genuity raised the target price on Altus Group to $27.00 from $24.00, with a buy rating
BofA Merrill Lynch raised the target on Bank of Montreal to $86.00 from $84.00, with a neutral rating
CIBC raised the target price on Birchcliff Energy to $7.00 from $6.00
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange moved lower 1.64 points Tuesday to 532.77
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures and major global indexes are falling.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials plummeted 130 points, or 0.8%, to 16,266, futures for the S&P 500 dipped 14.5 points, or 0.8%, to 1,901.5. NASDAQ futures fell 44.5 points, or 1.1%, to 4,114.75.
A number of big retailers are reporting earnings ahead of the opening bell, including Lowe's, Target and TJX, which owns the T.J. Maxx and HomeSense chains.
After the closing bell, a large batch of companies will report, including HP, Sturm Ruger, Salesforce.com, Transocean and Victoria's Secret owner L Brands.
Traders will be watching for two important economic reports Wednesday.
New home sales figures from the U.S. Census Bureau come out at 10 a.m. ET.
The U.S. government will release crude oil inventories data at 10:30 a.m.
U.S. crude prices dropped about 5% on Tuesday after Iran called Saudi Arabia's plan to freeze production a "joke."
Investors were also discouraged by comments from Saudi Arabia's oil minister, who said it would be a waste of time to seek a coordinated global production cut.
All major European markets are down by more than 1% in early trading. Nearly all Asian markets ended the day with losses.
Oil prices dropped a dollar to $30.87 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices hiked $15.24 to $1,242.09 U.S. an ounce.
