Canadian stocks are poised for a positive open Monday as traders speculate that the U.S. Federal Reserve will hold on to its stimulus program. Meanwhile, energy prices jumped amid escalating tensions in the middle-east that raised concerns over supply.
Uncertainty over the Fed's future course of action has triggered a sharp sell-off in global equities in recent weeks, with the Canadian main index tumbling to a two-month low last week, before recovering marginally.
U.S. stock futures were pointing to a higher open.
On Friday, the S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 89.76 points or 0.73 percent to 12,187.36.
The price of crude oil was moving higher Monday morning amid concerns over supply disruptions following geopolitical tensions in the middle-east region, as violence escalated in Syria. Crude for July delivery gained $0.38 to $98.23 a barrel.
The price of gold was moving lower Monday morning, with the US dollar trading firm versus a basket of currencies ahead of the outcome of Federal Reserve's two-day meeting. Gold for August eased $6.80 to $1,380.80 an ounce.
In corporate news from Canada, forest products company Weyerhaeuser Co. (WY) agreed Sunday to acquire Longview Timber LLC from Canadian property manager Brookfield Asset Management, Inc. (BAM, BAM-A.TO) for $2.65 billion, including assumed debt.
Ithaca Energy (IAE.TO) announced it has executed a farm-out agreement with a subsidiary of Edison International SpA (EDIHF.PK) for a 25 percent interest in the licenses containing the Handcross prospect and an agreement with Shell UK Limited concerning a license awarded in the 27th UK Offshore Licensing Round.
In economic news, Statistics Canada said non-resident investors bought $14.9 billion of Canadian securities in April, adding both debt and equity securities to their holdings. Meanwhile, Canadian investors added $2.8 billion of foreign securities, a third straight month of acquisitions. Foreign investment in Canadian securities was led by debt instruments, mainly reflecting private corporate bonds and the first acquisition of money market instruments in 2013. On the other hand, Canadian investment in foreign securities also focused on debt instruments in April.
From south of the border, the the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said its general business conditions index rose to a positive 7.8 in June from a negative 1.4 in May, with a positive reading indicating an increase in regional manufacturing activity. Economists had expected to climb to a positive 0.5.
Elsewhere, euro zone's trade in goods with the rest of the world resulted in a surplus in April, which was lower than a month earlier, data from Eurostat revealed. The trade surplus fell to EUR 14.9 billion in April from EUR 22.5 billion in March. A year earlier, the surplus amounted to EUR 3.3 billion. Exports grew 9 percent year-on-year in April, following a flat result in March. Imports rose 1 percent annually, recovering marginally from 10 percent slump in the previous month.
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