By Ketki Saxena
Investing.com -- At 10:00 a.m in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite Index was at 19,011.58 points modestly (0.05%) lower shortly after the opening bell, with the Commodity heavy Canadian index pressured by weakness in metals and crude, even as the Nasdaq eked out a gain on earnings optimism.
Commodities
Crude prices slipped in the morning’s trade following news of rising U.S. gasoline stockpiles - a proxy for demand - fuelled worries of lower demand even in the peak driving season.
Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed U.S. gasoline inventories rose 3.5 million barrels last week, more than analysts had been forecasting.
Gold prices meanwhile dropped to their lowest level since August 21 investors await more rate hikes from central banks, following the European Central Bank’s 50 basis point move yesterday. All eyes will now be on the Federal Reserve’s next policy meeting on the 27th of July, when a 75 bps move is widely expected.
Rate hike-concerns and worries of an economic slowdown, exacerbated by mass-testing in China that investors fear presage new round of lockdowns - also sweight on commodities, including industrial metals.
In Canadian Economics
Major Canadian economic data today includes the new home price index from Statistics Canada. New home prices for Canada were up 0.2% in June compared with May, with prices rising almost half of the census metropolitan areas surveyed
Corporate
The Globe and Mail report that Rogers Communications (TSX:RCIa) has a new chief technology, veteran telecom executive Ron McKenzie, as part of its promise to ensure network reliability in the aftermath of the nationwide outage earlier this month.
Meanwhile, Dye Dye & Durham (TSX:DND) Ltd’s revised takeover bid will be recommended for shareholder approval by Australia's Link Administration Holdings, following an offer that was rejected last week.