Futures for stocks in Canada’s largest centre struggled for direction on Wednesday amid firmer gold prices that rose on deepening fears of a surge in global cases of the novel coronavirus.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index faltered 74.17 points to end Tuesday at 15,595.50.
September futures eked up 0.02% Wednesday.
The Canadian dollar inched up 0.1 cents to 73.60 cents U.S.
Canadian and U.S. cannabis companies are facing a spike in already high costs of insurance to protect top executives from personal liability, following a slew of lawsuits by disgruntled investors alleging fraud and misinformation, with more such action expected.
A federal government source says the country is considering issuing longer-term debt to take advantage of low interest rates, and expects servicing costs to be lower this fiscal than was forecast last year despite the billions in emergency spending due to COVID-19.
PI Financial raised the price target on Jaguar Mining to $0.80 from $0.45
Morgan Stanley raised the target price on MEG Energy to $4.50 from $2.50
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 6.67 points, or 1%, Tuesday to 651.66.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures rose Wednesday, following weakness in equities in the previous session.
Futures for Dow Jones Industrials took on 35 points, or 0.1%, early Wednesday, to 25,805.
Futures for the S&P 500 added 4.75 points, or 0.2%, to 3,141.25.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite Index sprinted 38.25 points, or 0.4%, to 10,570.50.
Shares of Apple and Amazon gained 0.9% each in the pre-market to lead the early advance. Netflix and Alphabet traded higher as well.
Sentiment on markets was kept in check as the U.S. reported a record daily spike of more than 60,000 coronavirus cases. That latest surge brought the total number of confirmed U.S. cases to nearly three million, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Overseas, in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.8% Wednesday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index gained 0.6%.
Oil prices nicked ahead 11 cents to $40.73 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices picked up $4.40 to $1,814.30.
