Stock futures in Canada’s largest centre were a notch lower on Wednesday as crude prices fell after Kuwaiti oil workers ended a three-day strike, putting the focus back on oversupply.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index climbed 147.46 points, or 1.1%, to close Tuesday at 13,867.28. June futures dipped 0.1% early Wednesday.
The Canadian dollar was down 0.03 cents to 78.9 cents U.S. early Wednesday.
RBC cut the rating on CI Financial to sector perform from outperform
Raymond James raised the rating on Endeavour Mining to strong buy from outperform
CIBC cut the rating on Transalta Renewables to sector perform from outperform
Raymond James cut the rating on Precision Drilling to underperform from market perform
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported this morning that wholesale trade decreased 2.2% to $55.8 billion in February, after three consecutive increases. Lower sales were reported in five of seven sub-sectors, accounting for 66% of total wholesale sales. In volume terms, wholesale sales declined 1.9%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange sprang up 11.07 points, or 1.7%, Tuesday, to 649.41
ON WALLSTREET
Futures in New York were fairly soft Wednesday, as earnings season rolled on.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials inched up five points to 17,966, while futures for the S&P 500 eked up 2.25 points, or 0.1%, to 2,096. NASDAQ futures moved up 6.5 points, or 0.1%, to 4,533.25.
A number of major U.S. tech companies are in the spotlight Wednesday.
Intel announced late Tuesday that it plans to cut up to 12,000 people from its staff globally, or about 11% of its workforce.
Yahoo reported its first quarter earnings on Tuesday after the closing bell, and posted a big loss, with sales falling by double digits.
Google is facing a huge fine and major disruption to the way it does business after European officials filed new anti-trust charges against the company.
A wave of quarterly earnings is coming through Wednesday.
Coca-Cola, DISH Network, Tupperware and U.S. Bancorp were among the key companies reporting before the open.
American Express, Mattel, United Continental and Yum! Brands are reporting after the close.
Oil prices could remain volatile Wednesday as the U.S. Energy Information Administration reports weekly crude oil inventory data at 10:30 a.m. ET. The U.S. has been storing much more crude than usual and traders could continue pushing prices down if the data shows that inventory levels continue to rise.
Oil prices slid 69 cents to $40.39 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices dipped nine cents to $1,250.10 U.S. an ounce.
