Stock futures pointed to a flat opening for Canada's main stock index on Wednesday, with oil prices dipping on a surprise rise in U.S. crude inventories.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index plummeted 82.38 points by the closing bell Tuesday to 15,216.18
The Canadian dollar removed 0.02 cents to 77.61 cents U.S. early Wednesday
June futures faded 0.01% Wednesday.
BlackBerry reported a smaller quarterly loss on Wednesday, helped by higher margins from software and services sales.
Hudson's Bay Co posted its first profit in eight quarters, but missed expectations as comparable sales and margins declined in some divisions.
Lululemon Athletica on Tuesday reported a higher-than-expected fourth-quarter adjusted profit, due to higher sales during the holiday season.
Eight Capital cut the target price on Canacol Energy to $7.25 from $7.50.
TD Securities cut the price target on Torex Gold Resources to $14.50 from $19.00
In the economic docket, Statistics Canada reported that average weekly earnings in Canada were $996 in January, little changed from the previous month.
Earnings were up 3.2% compared with January 2017, largely the result of gains in the second half of 2017
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 13.71 points, or 1.7%, to 802.83
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock index futures rose ahead of Wednesday's open as tech shares and Boeing rebounded from steep losses in the previous session.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average sprang up 106 points, or 0.4%, to 23,965
S&P 500 futures gained nine points, or 0.3%, to 2,624.75, while futures on the NASDAQ Composite tacked on 5.75 points, or 0.1%, to 6,567
Boeing shares, which fell 2.4% on Tuesday, rose more than 1% in the pre-market. Technology stocks also rebounded, with Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet all rising before the bell.
The main driver stirring up sentiment in domestic and international markets concerns social media. Last week, reports emerged alleging that Cambridge Analytica, an analytics company, had gathered data from 50 million Facebook profiles without users' permission.
While Facebook has since come out to apologize and try to rectify the matter, concerns remain over data use. On Tuesday, shares of the social media group fell almost 5%.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will reportedly testify in front of Congress soon, in regards to the firm's data practices and the Cambridge Analytica leak. The company's stock rose 1% before the bell Wednesday.
A new batch of economic data is due. The third reading of the fourth-quarter's gross domestic product and advanced economic indicators are both due at 8:30 a.m. ET. Meantime at 10 a.m. ET, pending home sales are scheduled to come out.
Meantime, investors around the world have been keeping a close eye on global trade issues, debating what economic implications there could be if a trade war occurred between China and the U.S. This comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive memorandum that would inflict tariffs on Chinese imports — of up to $60 billion, prompting the Asian nation to retaliate.
Meanwhile, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 got rid of 1.3%, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index loosed 2.5%.
Oil prices faded 48 cents to $64.77 U.S. per barrel.
Gold prices lost nine dollars to $1,338.90 U.S. an ounce.
