Canadian stock futures were little changed on Wednesday as investors awaited the release of quarterly earnings from major companies including Agrium Inc, IAMGOLD Corp and TMX Group Ltd.
The S&P/TSX Composite dropped 110.91 points to end Tuesday at 14,471.83. September futures trudged lower 0.04% Wednesday.
The Canadian dollar inched up 0.03 cents to 76.3 cents U.S. early Wednesday
Government records showed a Husky Energy Inc oil spill into a major Canadian river on July 20 was the third in the same area in eight months, and could put new pressure on the province of Saskatchewan's energy regulator to improve its monitoring of pipelines.
Goldman Sachs raised the price target on First Quantum Minerals to $5.75 from $5.50, with a sell rating.
Peel Hunt raised the rating on Ithaca Energy to buy from hold
Goldman Sachs raised the target price on Lundin Mining to $4.70 from $4.50
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 9.06 points to close Tuesday at 805.23
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures are all sinking, with the Dow Jones Industrials threatening to add to its seven-day losing streak.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow faded 21 points, or 0.1%, to 18,227, while futures for the S&P 500 slid 2.5 points, or 0.1%, at 2,150.25. NASDAQ futures retreated 5.5 points, or 0.1%, to 4,708.75.
Office Depot, Clorox, Crocs and Time Warner are all releasing earnings before the open. Then 21st Century Fox, Allstate, Denny's, Herbalife, Transocean, TripAdvisor and Tesla Motors are set to release earnings after the close.
The Tesla results come after the electric car manufacturer announced it would buy solar energy firm, SolarCity. Tesla's stock has taken a tumble lately after being a hot investment for years. It's down 13% in the past 12 months.
Payroll firm ADP is publishing its influential employment data for July this morning. Some economists believe it provides clues to the official U.S. jobs report, which comes out Friday. It's expected that the data will show 175,000 new jobs were added in the American private sector last month.
The last ADP report showed that private sector employment increased by 172,000 jobs in June.
The U.S. government's Energy Information Administration releases data on weekly crude oil inventories at 10:30 a.m. ET. This report consistently affects the price of oil, which is currently trading just below $40.00 per barrel.
European markets are mixed in early trading, while most Asian markets ended the day in the red.
Oil prices added 35 cents to $39.86 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices dipped $1.30 at $1,371.30 U.S. an ounce.
