The Toronto stock market was set for a higher open Wednesday as commodity prices advanced and traders awaited details of a plan to contain Europe’s sovereign debt crisis.
The Canadian dollar was up 0.24 of a cent to 98.64 cents US.
A strong earnings report from airplane maker Boeing helped sent U.S. futures higher with the Dow Jones industrial futures ahead 67 points to 11,729. The Nasdaq futures were up 12.2 points to 2,334 and the S&P 500 futures gained 6.6 points to 1,231.2.
European officials were to meet later Wednesday to patch together a plan that will prevent banks from taking huge losses if the Greek government defaults on its bonds.
However, hopes have faded over the last few days that a detailed proposal will emerge.
“Anyone hoping for a Grand Plan will probably be disappointed,” said BMO Capital Markets senior economist Benjamin Reitzes.
“We’ll get something, but it likely won’t mark the end of this crisis.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Wednesday for banks and other private investors to make a significantly larger contribution to reduce Greece’s debt burden, and said Europe must simultaneously make sure that the eurozone debt crisis stops spreading.
Merkel didn’t spell out how large a writeoff private bondholders should take, but said the aim of Wednesday’s European Union summit must be a solution that allows Greece to cut its debt load to 120% of gross domestic product by 2020.
Greece’s debt are set to spiral above an estimated 180% of its economic output next year.
Hopes for a resolution to the debt crisis sent oil prices higher for a fourth day. The December crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 35 cents to US$93.52 a barrel.
Metal prices also advanced as the December copper contract on the Nymex gained seven cents to US$3.49 a pound.
Gold was also higher with the December contract in New York ahead $6.50 to US$1,706.90 an ounce.
On the earnings front, Rogers Communications Inc. (TSX:RCI.B) said third-quarter profits rose 29% to $491 million or 87 cents a share as it grew results at its wireless operations amid heightened competition. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had on average expected earnings per share of 82 cents.
Boeing Co. said its third-quarter earnings jumped 31% to US$1.1 billion, or $1.46 a share. Revenue rose four per cent to US$17.73 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet Research were looking for earnings of $1.10 a share, on average, with sales of $17.79 billion. Boeing shares were up 3.2% in pre-market trading in New York.
Ford Motor Co. earned US$1.6 billion in the third quarter, down two per cent from a year ago. The decline was partly due to a charge for hedging on commodities like copper whose prices fell during the quarter.
Without one-time items, including personnel reductions, Ford earned 46 cents per share, beating estimates by a penny but its shares were down 0.4% in pre-market trading.
Miner Sherritt International Corporation (TSX:S) said its third quarter net profits more than doubled to $45.5 million or 16 cents a share. Revenues in the quarter rose to $466.4 million from $412.7 million.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average fell 0.2%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index added 0.5%, South Korea’s Kospi advanced 0.3% while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.4%.
China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.7% while the Shenzhen Composite Index added one per cent.
European markets were higher as London’s FTSE 100 index gained 0.16%, Frankfurt’s DAX rose 0.31% while the Paris CAC 40 climbed 0.56%.