Bay Street May Open On Positive Note

(RTTNews) - Slightly higher Canadian and U.S. futures point to a marginally positive start for Canadian shares on Wednesday.

The focus will be on trade deal negotiations. U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that steep tariffs will be imposed on copper. He also threatened big levies on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals.

The deadline for trade deals has been pushed to August 1, and the U.S. President has stated that there would be no further extensions beyond that date.

The Canadian market ended weak on Tuesday amid uncertainty about US trade policy after US President Donald Trump delayed the reciprocal tariff deadline until August 1.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which hit a high of 27,070.18, settled at 26,903.57, down 116.71 points or 0.43%.

Asian stocks ended mixed on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump expanded his trade war with steep new tariffs targeting copper, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals.

European markets are up in positive territory amid optimism the U.S and the European Union will strike a trade deal in the coming weeks.

In commodities trading, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures are up $0.17 or 0.25% at $68.50 an ounce.

Gold futures are down $13.90 or 0.42% at $3,303.00 an ounce, while Silver futures are up $0.086 or 0.23% at $36.835 an ounce.