Bay Street Likely To See Cautious Start

(RTTNews) – Canadian shares are likely to open on a cautious note Tuesday morning with investors looking for directional clues.

With a slew of crucial economic data from the U.S. due later this week, and the Bank of Canada scheduled to announce its rate decision tomorrow, investors are likely to refrain from making significant moves today.

Canada’s trade data for April is due out at 8:30 AM ET.

The Canadian market ended roughly flat on Monday after a highly lackluster session as investors remained reluctant to make significant moves, choosing to wait for clear directional clues. The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a small gain of 6.11 points or 0.03% at 20,035.30, after hitting a fresh record high of 20,067.19 in opening trades.

Asian stocks ended weak on Tuesday as investors awaited U.S. inflation data later this week for more indications about the Fed’s policy outlook.

European stocks are modestly higher amid wild swings, as investors react to the latest batch of economic data and look ahead to the release of key U.S. inflation report, due on Thursday for clues about Fed’s likely discussions on tapering its asset purchases.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures are down $0.61 or 0.88% at $68.63 a barrel.

Gold futures are down marginally at $1,897.10 an ounce, while Silver futures are down $0.173 or 0.61% at $27.845 an ounce.