Equity markets in Canada’s largest centre looked set to open higher on Wednesday as concerns about the fallout from Turkey's downing of a Russian warplane appeared to ease.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 25.45 points to close Tuesday at 13,407.83. December futures inched up 0.1% Wednesday morning.
The Canadian dollar sifted off 0.04 cents to 75.12 cents U.S. early Wednesday
Maple Leaf Foods said it would cut 400 jobs, or about 3% of its workforce, nearly a month after the meat packer pushed back a timeline for hitting a key profit target.
CIBC raised the target price on Alimentation Couche-Tard to $74.00 from $66.00
BMO cut the price target on Bombardier to $1.30 from $1.50
National Bank Financial increased the target price on Capstone Infrastructure to $4.50 from $3.75
While no economic data is due for release today, a morsel of somewhat cheery news came out last night from the Bank of Canada. It stated that our economy is rebounding following a modest contraction in the first half of the year, boosted by non-energy exports and investment, which the central bank says will help growth reach 2.5% in 2017.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange inched back 2.07 points to 519.09.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade, as agencies strove to release a multitude of economic figures before the Thanksgiving long weekend.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones moved ahead 42 points, or 0.2%, to 17,807, futures for the S&P 500 improved 3.75 points, or 0.2%, to 2,088.50, and futures for the NASDAQ gained 11.5 points, or 0.3%, to 4,677.50.
Shares of Deere & Company surged over 5% in pre-market trading after the company reported better-than-expected earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter.
HP Inc reported results for its fiscal fourth quarter and issued a weak profit forecast on Tuesday.
Pfizer Inc. today announced that the European Commission has approved a label update to expand use of XALKORI® to first-line treatment of adults with anaplastic lymphoma kinase-positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer.
Guess?, Inc. reported better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter on Tuesday.
Data on Durable goods orders for October, consumer spending for October and weekly jobless claims will be released this morning, followed soon after by the FHFA house price index for September, and the services PMI for November.
Data on new home sales for October and the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index for November will be released mid-morning.
European markets were mostly higher today, with the German DAX 30 index gaining 1.4%, French CAC 40 Index climbing 1.3% and London's FTSE 100 Index perking 0.9%.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.4%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.4%, and China's CSI 300 moved up 0.7%.
Oil prices dived 72 cents to $42.15 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices fell $2.61 to $1,073.04 U.S. an ounce.
