Futures for Canada’s main stock index were muted on Wednesday ahead of policy meeting minutes from the Bank of Canada (BoC), with higher crude and precious metal prices providing some support.
The TSX marched ahead 96.08 points to end Tuesday at 20,725.
March futures on the S&P/TSX index were flat Wednesday morning.
The Canadian dollar squeezed ahead 0.08 cents to 74.75 cents U.S.
Among single stocks, Intact Financial Corporation reported a decline in fourth-quarter profits on a yearly basis.
Credit Suisse downgraded pipeline operator Enbridge Inc to “underperform” from “neutral”.
The BoC will be releasing minutes from its January policy meeting, where it raised interest rates by 25 basis points, for the first time in the bank’s history, at 01:30 p.m. ET. The move comes after a transparency review by the International Monetary Fund.
Investors will also weigh BoC Governor Tiff Macklem’s speech from Tuesday, where he said that no further interest rate hikes will be needed if the economy stalls and inflation comes down as expected.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 7.54 points, or 1.2%, Tuesday to 621.14.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures slid Wednesday morning as investors moved attention to the latest batch of corporate earnings.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials declined 98 points, or 0.3%, early Wednesday to 34,108.
Futures for the S&P 500 dropped 12.25 points, or 0.3%, to 4,163.50.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite dipped 12 points, or 0.1%, to 12,769.75.
Driving gains on Tuesday was Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell remarks that inflation is easing. His comments reiterated those given at his press conference last week, further bolstering investor hopes that the central bank will soon pause or pivot on interest rate hikes.
Chipotle fell more than 5% after missing expectations on the top and bottom lines in its latest results. Meanwhile, CVS raced more than 1% and Uber advanced more than 7%, following earnings that came in above Wall Street estimates.
The rideshare company posted per-share earnings of 29 cents, outperforming an expected loss of 18 cents from analysts polled by Refinitiv. Uber also beat the $8.49 billion expectation for revenue, bringing in $8.6 billion in the quarter.
Investors are also looking to post-bell earnings from companies including Walt Disney and Robinhood.
They will also watch for the latest reading on wholesale inventories due out at 10 a.m. ET. Economists are expecting a rise of 0.1% in December, according to Dow Jones.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index declined 0.3%, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng hesitated 0.1%.
Oil prices took on 76 cents to $77.90 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices zoomed $10.60 to $1,895.40 U.S. an ounce.