Canada's main stock index fell at open on Wednesday, hurt by a drop in financial stocks.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index dipped 30.48 points to open Wednesday at 16,638.92
The Canadian dollar docked 0.08 cents at 74.38 cents U.S.
Cenovus Energy cut its 2019 oil sands production guidance by 7% and posted quarterly earnings well below analysts' estimates, the first signs of the impact of a government ordered reduction in oil production.
Cenovus shares removed three cents to $13.98
Morgan Stanley raised the target price on Canadian Pacific Railway to $277.00 from $272.00. CP shares galloped $6.95, or 2.4%, to $301.95.
CIBC raised the target price on Pembina Pipeline to $55.00 from $54.00. Pembina shares dropped 38 cents to $50.08.
CIBC raised the target price on Winpak to $48.00 from $47.00. Winpak improved 53 cents in price, or 1.3%, to $42.70.
Lululemon Athletica forecast annual revenue growth in the low teens for the next five years. Lululemon shares opened in New York down $1.52 to $175.26.
On the economic ledger, the Bank of Canada did as expected and left rates alone. The central bank maintained its target for the overnight rate at 1.75%. The Bank Rate is correspondingly 2% and the deposit rate is 1.5%
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 0.48 points to 608
All but three of the 12 Toronto subgroups were in the red in the first hour, with materials and financials skidding 1% each, and energy down 0.8%.
The three gainers were industrials, up 0.4%, real-estate, inching up 0.2%, and information technology, eking up 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks opened little changed on Wednesday after two of the major stock indexes posted record closes in the previous session. Wall Street also digested another batch of corporate earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average sagged 28.36 points to 26,628.03
The S&P 500 slumped 0.23 points to 2,933.45
The NASDAQ Composite inched ahead 0.88 points to 8,121.71, above Tuesday’s record close.
The S&P 500 and NASDAQ notched record closing highs on Tuesday, fueled by strong corporate earnings results from companies like United Technologies, Coca-Cola and Twitter.
The move came less than six months after a massive drop in December, which led to Wall Street’s worst year since the financial crisis. But a pivot by the Federal Reserve in monetary policy away from higher rates and the cooling of trade tensions between China and the U.S. helped stocks rally from those lows.
Technology led the comeback, rising more than 36% since Christmas Eve. Xerox is the best-performing stock in the sector since then, rising about 80%.
Facebook and Microsoft are among the companies set to report later on Wednesday, while Amazon is scheduled to release its results on Thursday.
Nearly 130 S&P 500 companies have reported calendar first-quarter earnings so far. Of those companies, 78% have reported better-than-forecast profits
Earlier on Wednesday, Caterpillar reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue for the previous quarter. However, the stock fell more than 3%. Boeing shares, meanwhile, rose 1% despite the company pulling its 2019 guidance and halting its buyback program.
Domino’s Pizza, meanwhile rose on stronger-than-forecast quarterly results. Anthem and Biogen’s earnings also beat estimates.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury sprang upward, lowering yields to 2.52% from Tuesday’s 2.57%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices eased off seven cents to $66.23 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $1.50 to $1,274.70 U.S. an ounce.
