Futures tied to Canada's main stock index rose on Wednesday as investors focused on tariff negotiations between the U.S. and its trading partners as well as the Bank of Canada's interest rate decision that comes later this morning.
The TSX Composite Index recovered 37.18 points to close out Tuesday at 26,426.64.
Futures advanced 0.3% Wednesday.
The Canadian dollar inched higher 0.03 cents to 72.94 cents U.S.
In corporate news, Brookfield Asset Management plans to invest up to 95 billion Swedish crowns ($9.9 billion U.S.) to build a data centre for artificial intelligence in Sweden.
U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has set Wednesday as the deadline for trading partners to submit proposals for trade deals to avoid his "Liberation Day" tariffs from taking effect in early July.
Also on Wednesday, Washington doubled its tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, applying to all trading partners except Britain, which remains the only country to have struck a preliminary trade agreement.
The U.S. and China are also expected to talk sometime this week to iron out trade differences.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mark Carney's office said on Tuesday, the government is engaged in "intensive and live" negotiations to get exempted from newly announced additional U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum, as well as other import duties imposed by the Trump administration.
The Bank of Canada makes its interest rate announcement (around 10 a.m. ET), and the smart money has the central bank standing fast on rates as they are.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange hiked 9.82 points, or 1.4%, Tuesday to 717.23.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures rose slightly on Wednesday, as Nvidia continued to lead tech shares higher.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials gained 60 points, or 0.1% to 42,657.
Futures for the S&P 500 index recaptured 11 points, or 0.2%, to 5,992.50.
Futures for the NASDAQ hiked 35.5 points, or 0.2%, to 21,741.50.
Nvidia shares gained 0.7% in the premarket, as did Broadcom. Meta Platforms and Alphabet also ticked higher before the bell.
Wall Street is coming off a solid session, led by strong gains in tech. The 30-stock Dow rose more than 200 points, or 0.5%, for its fourth positive day. The S&P 500 gained 0.5% and the NASDAQ Composite advanced 0.8%. Nvidia rose nearly 3%, surpassing Microsoft to become the world’s most valuable public company once more.
After Tuesday’s gains, the S&P 500 now sits less than 3% from its 52-week high. The NASDAQ, meanwhile, is less than 4% from its recent high, and the Dow is less than 6%.
The recent gains have investors increasingly confident stocks have turned a corner on tariffs, especially after a series of reversals from President Donald Trump convinced traders the White House is mainly wielding high levies as a negotiating tool.
A federal court striking down Trump’s tariffs just last week added to hopes the market has priced in the worst of the tariffs, though they were later reinstated temporarily by an appeals court.
Futures also appeared to look past Trump’s latest remarks. Earlier on Wednesday, he said dealing with Chinese President Xi Jinping has been “extremely hard.”
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index picked up 0.8% Wednesday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng was 0.6% to the good.
Oil prices sagged 0.03 cents to $63.38 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slid $2.60 to $3,374.50 U.S. an ounce.
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