Stock futures pointed to a higher opening for Canada's main stock index on Wednesday ahead of the Bank of Canada's interest rate decision.
The S&P/TSX Composite plunged 64.27 points to close Tuesday at 15,399.24. Even so, the index eked out a gain of 0.1% for the month of February. March futures shot up 0.6% Wednesday
The Canadian dollar faded 0.12 cents to 75 cents U.S. early Wednesday.
National Bank of Canada said its first-quarter profit surged 90.4% from a year ago, when it took a writeoff charge of $236 million.
TransCanada Corp has suspended a $15-billion NAFTA suit filed against the United States over the Keystone XL pipeline, after U.S. President Donald Trump approved the project last month.
Torstar Corp, the owner of one of Canada's largest circulation daily newspapers, reported a fourth-quarter profit, compared with a loss a year earlier, when the company recorded a one-time charge of $213.3 million.
Desjardins upped the target price on Bank of Montrealto $104.00 from $99.00, with a hold rating
Barclays raised the target price on Bank of Nova Scotia to $78.00 from $73.00
National Bank raised the target price on CAP REIT to $35.00 from $34.00
The central bank is widely expected to hold interest rates at 0.5% when it announces its decision at 10:00 a.m. ET.
Elsewhere on the economic calendar, the Markit Canada Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index is due out for February
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange plummeted 9.99 points, or 1.2%, Tuesday to 817.22
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wednesday following President Donald Trump's speech to Congress.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials ballooned 148 points, or 0.7%, to 20,955. Futures for the S&P 500 gained 16.25 points, or 0.7%, to 2,379.50. NASDAQ futures hiked 34.25 points, or 0.6%, at 5,366.50.
Wednesday, the Dow dropped 0.1%, breaking the index's 12th straight sessions of gains.
Before the bell, Lowe's reported better-than-expected quarterly results.
After the bell, look out for reports from Broadcom, Box, Planet Fitness and Shake Shack.
Investors are digesting President Trump's economic plans, which he described in his first address to a joint session of Congress. He outlined plans for a $1-trillion infrastructure investment, health-care reform, immigration reform and tax relief for businesses and the middle class.
Economically speaking, personal income, consumer spending and core price index data is out early this morning. Construction spending and the ISM manufacturing data will be unveiled, then, the Federal Reserve's beige book will be released at 2 p.m. ET.
Market expectations for a rate hike on March 15 — when the central bank concludes its next monetary policy meeting — jumped to 67.5% according to an expert
In Europe, stocks are higher following Trump's speech, with construction and material stocks profiting from the President's infrastructure plans. The Nikkei 225 in Japan triumphed 1.4%.
Oil prices added 16 cents to $54.17 U.S. per barrel.
Gold prices scaled back 12 cents to $1,241.80 U.S. an ounce.
