Equity Markets
The Toronto stock market opened lower Wednesday, weighed by energy stocks as oil prices fell after days of gains.
The S&P/TSX was down 68.46 points, or 0.45 per cent, to 15,062.15.
The Canadian dollar was a quarter of a cent lower at 76.99 after hitting a 10-month high on Tuesday.
Wall Street opened higher but then turned mixed on Wednesday as investors awaited minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve's last meeting for more clues on interest rate hikes this year.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 46.61 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 21,432.66. The S&P 500 was off 2.55 points, or 0.10 per cent, to 2,426.46. The Nasdaq composite added 8.46 points, or 0.14 per cent, to 6,118.52.
The Fed, which lifted interest rates and unveiled details of its plan to cut its mammoth crisis-era bond portfolio at its mid-June meeting, will release minutes at 2 p.m. ET.
A recent set of tepid economic data and an inflation rate below the central bank's 2-per-cent target may have a bearing on its rate hike plans.
"Markets will also be paying very close attention to see if the minutes suggest that the recent fall in inflation is 'transitory', with suggestions of higher rates still on the cards, unless the U.S. economy decelerates," said Lukman Otunuga, analyst with FXTN Research.
Adding to investor concerns are weak oil prices. Crude oil was down more than 1 per cent on Wednesday as rising OPEC exports turned sentiment more bearish.
For now investors seem to be giving policy makers the benefit of the doubt that the global economy can take any tightening of monetary policy, although the latest data on Wednesday was mixed -- strong in Europe and weaker in China.
The Fed minutes will be searched by investors for signs of more concern among policy makers about a downturn in inflation and activity in the United States.
Stock markets rode out the latest rise in tensions around North Korea on Wednesday, main markets in both Europe and Asia inching higher as attention moved to the Fed.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.3 percent, regaining half the losses it saw on Tuesday when North Korea fired a missile into Japanese waters.
"North Korea has rattled markets but central bankers are more important," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at City Index in London.
"While North Korea's military ambitions are a background threat for markets, we don't think that this particular geopolitical event is at the stage yet where it will cause a spike in volatility."
In Europe, London's FTSE added 0.04 per cent, Germany's DAX was off 0.01 per cent and France's CAC gained 0.05 per cent.
Shanghai stocks rose more than 0.76 per cent, despite a drop in the Caixin/Markit services purchasing managers' index (PMI) to 51.6 in June, from 52.8 in May.
The Nikkei was up 0.25 per cent and the Hang Seng was up 0.5 per cent.
Commodities
Oil prices fell more than 1 percent on Wednesday, ending their longest bull-run in more than five years, as climbing OPEC exports and a stronger dollar turned sentiment more bearish.
Benchmark Brent crude futures were down 57 cents, or 1.2 percent, at $49.04 a barrel by 1020 GMT. Prices had climbed for eight straight sessions to Monday.
U.S. WTI crude futures were down 63 cents, or 1.3 percent, at $46.44 a barrel after reaching a one-month high of $47.32 earlier in the session.
"The air is getting thin for oil prices. The price increase just ran out of steam, which is not very surprising, given the newsflow of rising OPEC supplies," said Carsten Fritsch, senior commodity analyst at Commerzbank.
Oil exports by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries climbed for a second month in June, Thomson Reuters Oil Research data showed.
OPEC exported 25.92 million barrels per day (bpd) in June, up 450,000 bpd from May and 1.9 million bpd more than a year earlier.
Gold prices slid lower.
Copper prices eased for a fourth straight session on Wednesday on a surge in warehouse stocks but the threat of strike action at two Chilean mines curbed losses.
Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange slipped 0.8 percent to a one-week low of $5,843.50 per tonne.
Currencies and bonds
The Canadian dollar was lower, but still above the 77-cent (U.S.) level, pushed higher by steadying commodity prices after hitting a 10-month high on Tuesday.
The Canadian dollar hit its strongest level since September against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday as Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz added more support to the view the central bank will raise interest rates as early as next week.
The U.S. dollar inched higher against the yen on Wednesday but struggled to make progress against the euro as investors awaited minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest meeting and U.S. jobs data later in the week.
The dollar rose 0.3 percent to trade at 113.59 yen, its highest level in nearly two months. Against the euro, the greenback was broadly flat at $1.13530.
With very little in the way of big U.S. economic data in the coming days, the release of the June 14 Fed minutes will dominate the next 24 hours. Investors will look for clues on the likely outlook of the balance sheet reduction.
The Canadian 10-year bond was up 0.05 at 1.83. The U.S. 10-year was at 2.35, up 0.03 and the U.S. 30 year was at 2.86, up 0.05.
Stocks set to see action
Oilfield services provider Halliburton Co.. said on Wednesday it would buy oilfield equipment supplier Summit ESP Inc., which is backed by Oklahoma energy and banking billionaire George Kaiser. Halliburton shares fell 1.1 per cent in premarket trading.
Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. (CF-T) is buying Hargreave Hale Ltd., a U.K.-based investment and wealth management business with $13.5-billion (Canadian) in assets under administration.
Airbus has signed an agreement to sell 140 aircraft to China, it said on Wednesday, in a deal worth around $23-billion at list prices.
Lloyds Banking Group has reshuffled its senior management team, it said on Wednesday, as Britain's biggest mortgage lender prepares for the next phase of its transformation into a leaner, low-risk bank.
U.S. credit card processing firm Vantiv Inc. is merging with Worldpay Group PLC, the U.K.'s largest payment processing firm, in a deal worth about $9.94-billion, the companies announced Wednesday.
More reading: Wednesday's small-cap stocks to watch
More reading: Loonie strongest since September as Poloz keeps rate hike thoughts alive
Economic News
(10 a.m. ET) U.S. factory orders for May. Consensus is a decline of 0.5 per cent from May.
(2 p.m. ET) U.S. Federal Open Market Committee minutes from June meeting are released.
With files from Reuters and Bloomberg