Futures for Canada's main stock index fell on Wednesday, dragged lower by gold stocks as bullion prices weakened on a firmer dollar, while investors awaited the U.S. Federal Reserve policy statement for clarity on monetary stimulus.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index wilted 126.61 points to end Tuesday’s session at 17,779.41.
The Canadian dollar removed 0.35 cents to 78.44 cents U.S.
March futures blundered 0.7% Wednesday.
Canadian National Railway said on Tuesday it aims to deliver high single-digit earnings per share growth in fiscal 2021 and beat quarterly profit as improvement in consumer spending drove volumes.
Speaking of CNR, JP Morgan cut the target price on the carrier to $145.00 from $150.00
ATB Capital Markets raised the target price on Metro Inc. to $62.00 from $61.00
National Bank of Canada cut the target price on Yamana Gold to $7.50 from $9.00
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 7.12 points Tuesday to 961.62.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. Stock futures fell early Wednesday as investors pored through mixed earnings from major companies.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials plummeted 357 points, or 1.2%, to 30,498.
Futures for the S&P 500 sagged 46.5 points, or 1.2%, at 3,798.25.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite faltered 104.5 points, or 0.8%, to 13,381.
Boeing fell more than 4% after its earnings report showed 2020 net loss hit a record of $11.9 billion amid the 737 Max grounding and the coronavirus pandemic.
Microsoft investors cheered stellar results from the tech giant. Sales grew by 17% on a year-over-year basis in its fiscal second quarter, while its cloud business accelerated. Microsoft shares rose 1.5% in pre-market trading.
Starbucks topped earnings estimates for the last quarter, but its U.S. same-store sales fell 5% amid rising cases of Covid-19. Shares of the coffee chain fell more than 2% in pre-market trading.
Apple, Facebook and Tesla are due to report earnings after the closing bell. They represent three of the six largest companies in the U.S. by market cap, meaning fluctuations in their stock prices have an outsized impact on the performance of the broader S&P 500.
Intensifying speculative behavior among retail investors is causing many on Wall Street to raise a red flag. Heavily shorted names, including GameStop and AMC Entertainment, continued to be pushed higher by amateur day traders in online chat rooms.
GameStop shares were on the move again up another 70% in the premarket, but off their highs of the day after media reports that Melvin Capital, the hedge fund targeted by the retail investing crowd on Reddit had sold out of its short position. AMC was up more than 200% in pre-market trading.
Investors will also keep a close eye on comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who is expected to speak with reporters during a press conference Wednesday afternoon following the Fed’s latest interest rate decision.
The central bank chief will likely explain how the Fed views the economic outlook and offer remarks about what, if any, monetary actions are needed to help further stabilize the U.S. economy.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.3%, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index faded 0.3%.
Oil prices lost a nickel to $52.56 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices ditched $12.70 to $1,838.20 U.S.
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