Stock futures in Canada’s largest market were lower on Wednesday as oil prices fell and in anticipation of a widely expected U.S. interest rate hike.
The S&P/TSX Composite hiked 97.57 points to close Tuesday at 15,385.27. Futures were off 0.2% early Wednesday morning.
The Canadian dollar moved higher 0.14 cents to 76.32 U.S. early Wednesday.
Canexus Corp, which rejected a hostile bid from Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund, confirmed on Tuesday that it is in talks with its rival about a higher offer.
Instinet raised the target price on Canadian Natural Resources to $48.00 from $44.00
Barclays raised the target price on Enerplus to $15.00 from $13.00
Dundee raised the target price Teck Resources to $40.00 from $34.00
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 1.11 points Tuesday to 752.60
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock index futures pointed to a flat open on Wednesday as traders awaited an announcement from the Federal Reserve meeting and focused on a slew of economic data.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials dipped 17 points, or 0.1%, to 19,841. Futures for the S&P 500 fell 2.25 points, or 0.1%, to 2,265.5. NASDAQ futures inched up 0.75 points at 4,938.25
On the earnings front, Apogee and Pier 1 Imports are due to report after the bell.
The long-awaited Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meeting is widely expected to result in an interest rate hike, which would be only the second rate rise in a decade.
Economically speaking, the Producer Price Index rose 0.4% in November, above the expected 0.1% increase. Meanwhile, November retail sales rose less than expected as households cut back on purchases of motor vehicles.
Industrial production, capacity utilization and business inventories are all set to be released later on Wednesday morning.
Oil prices slumped 91 cents to $52.07 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices took on five dollars to $1,164.00 U.S. an ounce.
