Stock futures pointed to a higher opening for Canada's main stock index on Wednesday, gaining strength from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's upbeat view on the strength of the world's largest economy.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 24.51 points to end Tuesday at 16,519.24
The Canadian dollar dropped 0.31 cents at 75.45 cents U.S. early Wednesday
September futures eked up 0.07% Wednesday
Finance Minister Bill Morneau is set to stay in his post when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shuffles his cabinet, which could be as early as this week.
Raymond James cut the rating on Arizona Mining to market perform from outperform
RBC cut the rating on Centerra Gold to underperform from sector perform
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 2.52 points Tuesday to 713.11.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock index futures pointed to a flat open Wednesday, as investors monitor a flurry of corporate earnings and a fresh batch of economic data
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials gave back 20 points, or 0.1%, to 25,086
S&P 500 futures dipped 2.75 points, or 0.1%, to 2,808.50, while futures for the NASDAQ composite gained 14.5 points, or 0.2%, to 7,407.25
Morgan Stanley reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue as trade revenue surpassed expectations. Shares of the banking giant rose more than 2.5% in the pre-market.
U.S. Bancorp also posted a stronger-than-forecast profit, sending its stock up by 0.4%. Abbott Labs is scheduled to report later on Wednesday. American Express, eBay and IBM were all set to report earnings after the close.
So far, the corporate earnings season is gathering steam. With 8.7% of S&P 500 having reported, second-quarter earnings for the broad index are up 21.6% from the year-earlier period.
The moves in pre-market trade come shortly after an upbeat assessment on the U.S. economy from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
The head of America’s central bank also downplayed the impact of global trade risks on the outlook for future rate hikes.
Looking to data, housing starts and building permits for June are set to be published at around 8:30 a.m. ET.
Overseas, in Japan, markets climbed 0.4%, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index faltered 0.2%.
Oil prices fell 52 cents to $67.56 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices sank $3.90 to $1,223.40 U.S. an ounce.
