Bay Street Seen Opening On Negative Note

(RTTNews) - Canadian shares are likely to open with a negative bias on Wednesday, tracking weakness in Asian and European markets and on rising fears the global economy is slipping into a recession.

The U.S. dollar scaled a fresh two-decade peak and 10-year U.S. Treasury yields topped 4% for the first time in more than a decade after Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard and Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari all said they need to keep raising rates to restore price stability.

After opening higher and staying firm till a little before noon, the Canadian market turned subdued and moved along the flat line on Tuesday and finally ended the session on a slightly weak note.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which climbed nearly 230 points to 18,546.76 earlier in the session, ended with a loss of 19.13 points or 0.1% at 18,307.91, about 60 points off the day's low of 18,247.74.

Asian stocks tumbled on Wednesday as hawkish Fed talk added to worries about a looming recession. Concerns over Europe's energy crisis and unfunded U.K. tax cuts also kept investors nervous. Chinese markets fell sharply as the yuan hit a record low versus the dollar amid waning economic growth.

European stocks are down firmly in negative territory amid concerns about energy shortages and Britain's radical tax cuts to spur growth.

Weak consumer sentiment readings from Germany and France also raised concerns about the economic outlook.

In commodities trading, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures are up $0.10 or 0.13% at $78.63 a barrel.

Gold futures are down $3.00 or 0.18% at $1,633.20 an ounce, while Silver futures are lower by $0.227 or 1.24% at $18.110 an ounce.