Canada's main stock index was little changed at open on Wednesday, taking cues from Wall Street, as investors avoided riskier assets on concerns over global economic slowdown.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index squeezed out a gain of 6.61 points to open Wednesday at 16,161.77
The Canadian dollar docked 0.17 cents at 74.56 cents U.S.
Imperial Oil says it has recently resumed shipping crude oil by rail from its terminal in Edmonton, because of a marginal improvement in rail economics. IMO stock gained 13 cents to $36.62.
Canaccord Genuity cut the rating on Cronos Group to sell from hold. Cronos shares dived $1.76, or 6.5%, to $25.30.
National Bank of Canada raised the price target on Gildan Activewear to $48.00 from $47.00. Gildan shares lost 40 cents to $48.10.
RBC raised the price target on Emera to $56.00 from $53.00. Emera shares subsided 11 cents to $50.53.
In macroeconomic news, Statistics Canada reported that average weekly earnings were $1,012 in January, little changed from the previous month. Compared with 12 months earlier, earnings grew by 2.0%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange subtracted 0.86 points to 633.76
Eight of the 12 Toronto subgroups were positive to begin the day, with consumer staples and real-estate each up 0.6%, and consumer discretionary issues ahead 0.5%.
The four laggards were weighed most by health-care, sliding 0.9%, gold, down 0.8%, and materials, off 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell slightly on Wednesday after the release of better-than-expected trade data, but worries over the economy lingered as rates remained at subdued levels.
The Dow Jones Industrials was static at Tuesday’s opening, at 25,657.61
The S&P 500 faded 1.8 points to 2,816.66
The NASDAQ Composite sank 12.7 points to 7,678.82.
Shares of WellCare Health Plans surged more than 10% after announcing it would sell itself to Centene for $15.27 billion in a cash-and-stock deal. Centene shares, meanwhile, dropped 9%
The U.S. trade deficit fell to $51.15 billion in January, much more than was expected and could give a boost to this quarter's GDP.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury climbed, lowering yields to 2.38% from Tuesday’s 2.42%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices were up five cents to $59.99 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slid $2.80 to $1,312.20 U.S. an ounce.
Stocks Unchanged as Trade Deficit Narrows
