REINFORCES FUTURES CHANGES
Stocks in Canada’s largest market have been gathering steam as the year winds down, and were hoping to achieve higher ground Wednesday, on developments in the resource sectors.
The TSX gained 56.65 points to close Tuesday at 17,639
The Canadian dollar gained 0.18 to 78.20 cents U.S.
December futures inched up 0.2% to 1,052.1, their highest level since
Whitecap Resources Inc is buying Torc Oil & Gas Ltd in a $565 million all-stock deal to beef up oil production in Saskatchewan and Alberta regions where it has major operations.
The battle to buy British security company G4S Plc is escalating with U.S. giant Allied Universal Security Services LLC submitting a formal takeover bid supported by the target's board of directors, diminishing Montreal-based rival GardaWorld's chances of success.
Air Canada is cutting more routes in Atlantic Canada and warning of station shutdowns, moves the region's airports say will further isolate the region's people and force the shutdown of airports.
Enbridge Inc says it will need to be paid a higher "risk premium" to undertake major, capital intensive crude oil pipelines in future.
The Bank of Canada is out this morning with its rate announcement (about 10 a.m. EST), and is widely expected to keep the rate where it is, at 0.25%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange reversed course and gained 2.29 points Tuesday to 787.02.
ON WALLSTREET
Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 futures rose early Wednesday, building on recent strength that’s pushed the major averages to record highs.
Futures for the 30-stock index gained 69 points, or 0.2%, at 30,239.
Futures for the S&P 500 picked up four points, or 0.1%, at 3,706.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite lost 15.75 points, or 0.1%, to 12,621.75.
Fueling the rally is optimism about the U.K.’s rollout of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday. Hope that the U.S. Senate will soon agree to a stimulus package to prop up markets as the coronavirus outbreak rages on has also boosted sentiment.
Stocks that would benefit most from a successful vaccine rollout gained in the pre-market. Shares of American Airlines rose 2.7% and Carnival Corp. gained 2.3%.
More than 200,000 Americans are testing positive for the coronavirus every day on average, according to an analysis of Johns Hopkins University data.
The United States has seen one million new cases in just four days, bringing the national total to over 15 million.
The U.S. Labor Department’s so-called JOLTs report will be released at 10 a.m. ET on Wednesday. Economists polled by Dow Jones are expecting job openings to hit 6.3 million in October, down slightly from the 6.4 million in September.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 1.3% Wednesday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index added 0.8%.
Oil prices took on 14 cents to $45.74 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slid $14.30 to $1,860.60 U.S.
