Canadian Stocks Have Overcome Early Weakness -- Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market got off to a weak start Wednesday, but has managed to climb into positive territory. The recent rally in commodity prices has seems to have stalled out this morning. Investors appear hesitant to make any major moves ahead of the release of the minutes of the most recent meeting of the Federal Reserve this afternoon.

Markets in Europe have been trading modestly to the downside for much of Wednesday's session, but are now attempting to break out into positive territory. Investors are in a cautious mood ahead of the release of the Fed minutes later today. Concerns over the possibility of a U.S. interest rate hike followed the release of a batch of positive U.S. economic data yesterday.

Markets in the United States began the day in negative territory, but have since climbed into the green. Investors are looking forward to the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's April monetary policy meeting this afternoon. The minutes may provide some insight into the thinking of Fed officials and whether the central bank plans a rate hike at its June meeting.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is up 12.41 points or 0.09 percent at 13,929.51.

On Tuesday, the index closed up 23.61 points or 0.17 percent, at 13,917.10. The index scaled an intraday high of 13,981.23 and a low of 13,873.67.

The Capped Industrials Index is gaining 0.75 percent. Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO) is higher by 1.16 percent and Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO) is adding 1.31 percent. Air Canada (AC.TO) is climbing 1.06 percent and Bombardier (BBD-B.TO) is rising 1.02 percent.

The Capped Information Technology Index is rising 0.58 percent. Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO) is up 0.16 percent and BlackBerry (BB.TO) is advancing 0.81 percent. Sierra Wireless (SW.TO) is climbing 1.47 percent and Constellation Software (CSU.TO) is gaining 0.98 percent.

The Capped Healthcare Index is gaining 0.49 percent. Concordia Healthcare (CXR.TO) is increasing 1.59 percent and Extendicare (EXE.TO) is up 0.70 percent.

The heavyweight Financial Index is increasing 0.48 percent. Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) is rising 0.53 percent and National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) is higher by 0.67 percent. Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) is advancing 0.32 percent and Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) is gaining 0.46 percent. Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) is also up 0.09 percent.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) climbing 0.44 percent. According to the Globe and Mail, the company's trading floor has been hit by sexual harassment allegations.

The Capped Telecommunication Services Index is down 0.05 percent. TELUS (T.TO) is gaining 0.12 percent and Manitoba Telecom Services (MBT.TO) is rising 0.16 percent. Rogers Communication (RCI-B.TO) is also climbing 0.13 percent.

The Diversified Metal and Mining Index is declining 1.12 percent. HudBay Minerals (HBM.TO) is decreasing 0.74 percent and Teck Resources (TCK-B.TO) is falling 1.52 percent. Capstone Mining (CS.TO) is down 4.48 percent and First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) is weakening by 2.17 percent. Lundin Mining (LUN.TO) is surrendering 0.95 percent and Sherritt International (S.TO) is losing 2.47 percent.

The Gold Index is declining 0.49 percent. Gold prices are slightly lower this morning, ahead of the release of the closely watched minutes of the most recent Federal Reserve meeting.

Yamana Gold (YRI.TO) is decreasing 1.22 percent and Goldcorp (G.TO) is losing 0.42 percent. B2Gold (BTO.TO) is declining 0.69 percent and IAMGOLD (IMG.TO) is falling 1.16 percent.

Barrick Gold (ABX.TO) is falling 0.40 percent. Billionaire George Soros revealed yesterday that he bought a 1.7 percent stake in Barrick Gold worth $264 million.

The Capped Materials Index is also down 0.80 percent. Franco-Nevada (FNV.TO) is decreasing 2.25 percent and Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) is lower by 1.22 percent. Silver Wheaton (SLW.TO) is falling 1.19 percent.

The Energy Index is down 0.35 percent. Crude oil prices are nearly flat this morning after the American Petroleum Institute (API) inventory data revealed a draw of 1.1 million barrels.

The U.S. EIA reported this morning that U.S. crude inventory inventories increased by 1.3 million barrels last week. Expectations had been for a drop in inventories.

Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO) is losing 0.45 percent and Suncor Energy (SU.TO) is down 0.46 percent. Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) is falling 0.15 percent and Husky Energy (HSE.TO) is decreasing 1.27 percent. Imperial Oil (IMO.TO) is dipping 0.15 percent and Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) is surrendering 0.23 percent.

The Panama Papers revealed that SNC-Lavalin (SNC.TO) paid a secret Caribbean-registered company to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars in business in Algeria, according to the CBC. The stock is now up 0.42 percent.

On the economic front, Eurozone inflation turned negative as estimated in April, final data from Eurostat showed Wednesday. The harmonized index of consumer prices slid 0.2 percent from the prior year after staying flat in March. The statistical office confirmed the annual rate.

The number of persons in employment in Germany grew further in the three months ended March, and at an accelerated pace, preliminary figures from Destatis showed Wednesday.

Total number of employed persons in the country rose 1.3 percent, or by 533,000 persons to 43.1 million in the March quarter from the corresponding period of 2015. It was also faster than the 1.0 percent climb in the fourth quarter.

The U.K. unemployment rate held steady at a decade-low in the three months to March period and the employment rate hit a record high, reflecting that the labor market weathered uncertainty on the EU referendum.

The Office for National Statistics showed that the ILO jobless rate remained at 5.1 percent, unchanged from February and matched economists' expectations.

At the same time, the employment rate was 74.2 percent in the three months to March, the highest since the comparable records began in 1971.

The U.K. household finance index decreased to the lowest level in nearly two years in May on strong inflation perceptions, survey data from Markit Economics showed Wednesday. The seasonally adjusted household finance index, which measures overall perceptions of financial well being and aims to track consumer behavior, fell to 42.3 in May from 45.1 in April.

In commodities, crude oil futures for June delivery are up 0.28 or 0.58 percent at $48.59 a barrel.

Natural gas for June is down 0.035 or 1.71 percent at $2.013 per million btu.

Gold futures for June are down $5.80 or 0.45 percent at $1,271.10 an ounce.

Silver for July is down $0.14 or 0.81 percent at $17.11 an ounce.