Luke KawaThe Globe and Mail
The Before the Bell report is updated throughout the premarket to reflect the latest news developments and market moves. Check back later for updates.
U.S. futures are sinking ahead of the open of what has the potential to be one of the busiest trading days of the year to date.
At 8:30 a.m. ET, the advance estimate of the United States' first quarter growth is slated to be released. The consensus estimate is for growth of just 1 per cent, though it's worth noting that every first-quarter GDP report since 2009 has come in below expectations south of the border.
After that, traders will have the release of the latest U.S. Federal Reserve policy statement at 2 p.m. ET to look forward to. Chair Janet Yellen and her colleagues won't be hiking rates at this meeting, but their assessment of the economic outlook will be closely parsed by traders in order to glean when liftoff might be coming. The labour market has improved significantly since the depths of the financial crisis but inflation remains stubbornly below 2 per cent. The Fed has pledged to keep rates near zero until it is "reasonably confident" inflation will trend back to its target.
S&P/TSX 60 futures are marginally lower ahead of the open.
West Texas Intermediate futures are trading to the downside ahead of the weekly inventory and production report from the U.S. Energy Information Agency. The prior reading showed a smaller than expected build in stockpiles, but also suggested that U.S. production may be in the midst of plateauing - at least for the short term.
Though it's too early to declare victory in Europe, the European Central Bank will no doubt be pleased by the fact that bank loans to the private sector inched higher in March on an annual basis, the first increase in three years.
Bond yields are climbing virtually across the board in Europe, while major bourses are trading lower.
Fears of a possible 'Grexit' from the euro zone, or the potential for the imposition of capital controls, are clearly being reflected in Greek bank deposits, which have slipped to their lowest level in nearly a decade.
In Asia, Chinese stocks finished little changed and well off their lows of the day.
Australia's major index, meanwhile, suffered its largest one-day decline of 2015 that has been attributed to acute weakness in the financial stocks and the surge in the Aussie dollar.
Here's a look at the latest market numbers and other highlights ahead of the trading day.
Futures:
S&P 500 -0.26 per cent; Dow -0.26 per cent; Nasdaq -0.33 per cent
Equities:
Hong Kong's Hang Seng -0.15 per cent
Shanghai composite index +0.01 per cent
Japan's Nikkei closed for holiday
London's FTSE 100 -0.13 per cent
Germany's DAX -0.14 per cent
France's CAC 40 -0.22 per cent
Stoxx 600 -0.23 per cent
Commodities:
WTI crude oil (Nymex Jun) -0.68 per cent at $56.73 (U.S.) a barrel
Natural gas (Nymex May) -0.32 per cent at $2.529
Gold (Comex Jun) -0.54 per cent at $1,207.40 (U.S.) an ounce
Copper (Comex Jul) -0.48 per cent at $2.773 (U.S.) a pound
Currencies:
Canadian dollar at 82.87 (U.S.), down 0.0025
U.S. dollar index down 0.18 at 95.912
Bonds:
U.S. 10-year Treasury yield 2.0211 per cent, up 0.0177
ECONOMIC DATA:
Canada industrial produce price index and raw materials price index, expected to decline 0.1 per cent and 2.0 per cent, respectively, rose by 0.3 per cent and fell by 0.9 per cent in the month of March.
U.S. real GDP for the first quarter rose just 0.2 per cent on an annualized basis, well below the consensus call for a 1 per cent increase.
(10 a.m. ET) U.S. pending home sales for March. Consensus is for a rise of 1.1 per cent.
(2 p.m. ET) FOMC announcement.
STOCKS TO WATCH:
Valeant Pharmaceuticals Inc. reported first-quarter earnings and revenues slightly ahead of analysts' expectations. Management boosted its outlook for the full year in light of the acquisition of Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. The Canadian pharmaceutical giant also announced that chief financial officer Howard Schiller plans to step down from his position while hoping to remain a member of the board of directors.
Shares of Open Text Corp. plunged in the after-hours session on Tuesday after the company reported lower than expected profits and revenues. Foreign exchange adjustments and customers transitioning to the cloud crimped the company's performance.
MasterCard Inc. reported first-quarter earnings of $0.89 per share, nine cents higher than the consensus estimate. Sales, however, were modestly shy of analysts' estimates.
After the close on Tuesday, GoPro Inc. reported first-quarter results that crushed analysts' estimates on the top and bottom lines. The company also issued impressive guidance for the current quarter. Shares are on a tear in the pre-market trade.
Cenovus Energy Inc. posted a loss of $668-million for the first three months of 2015 after reporting a profit of $247-million in the same period of 2014.
Spectrum Brands Holdings Inc. has reached an agreement to purchase Armored AutoGroup Parent Inc., which boasts the brands Armor All and STP, for $1.4-billion, including the assumption of debt. The deal will be financed by debt and equity issuances.
Earnings expected Wednesday include: Atco Ltd., Cameco, Cenovus, CGI Group, Colabor, Constellation Software, Horizon North, Jean Coutu, Lake Shore Gold, Lundin Mining, New Gold, Orbite Aluminae, Stella-Jones, Suncor Energy, Valeant Pharmaceuticals, AMC Entertain Hldgs, Amedisys Inc., American Railcar Indus Inc., Anthem Inc., Avery Dennison Corp., BGC Partners Inc.,Boston Beer Company Inc., Brookdale Senior Living Inc., Brunswick Corp., Cabot Corp, Cameco Corp., CBRE Grp Inc. , CGI Grp Inc., Deutsche Bank AG, Duke Realty Corp., Eaton Corp. , Equity One Inc., Exelon Corp., Extra Space Storage Inc., Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, FormFactor Inc., Forrester Research Inc., Frank's Intl NV, Garmin Ltd., General Dynamics Corp., Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, GrubHub Inc., Hercules Offshore Inc., Hess Corp., Hilton Worldwide, Hudson Tech Inc., Intl Paper Company, John Bean Tech Corp., La Quinta Hldgs Inc, Level 3 Commun Inc., Lumber Liquidators, Marriott Intl Inc., MasterCard Inc., Methanex Corp., Mondelez Intl Inc., Murphy Oil Corp., Norfolk Southern Corp., Northrop Grumman Corp., Omnicare Inc., Praxair Inc. , Quaker Chemical Corp., Questar Corp., Roadrunner Transportation, Rollins Inc., Shutterfly Inc., Silicon Graphics Intl Corp., Silicon Laboratories Inc., Spirit Airlines Inc, SPX Corp., Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Suncor Energy Inc., TAL Intl Grp Inc., Thomson Reuters Corp., Time Warner Inc., Waste Mgmt Inc. , Whiting Petroleum Corp., XL Grp Plc , Yelp Inc.
ANALYST ACTIONS:
Twitter Inc. was downgraded to "neutral" from "buy" at Janney Montgomery and Rosenblatt.
Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd. was initiated with an "outperform" rating at Raymond James.
Procter & Gamble Co. was downgraded to "hold" from "buy" at Societe Generale.
GoPro Inc. was upgraded to "outperform" from "market perform" at Raymond James.
Sunoco LP was upgraded to "buy" from "neutral" at UBS.
Pfizer Inc. was lowered to "neutral" from "buy" at Citigroup.
Canadian National Railway Co. was raised to "outperformer" from "sector perform" at CIBC.
Open Text Corp. was lowered to "sector performer" from "outperformer" at CIBC.