Bay Street Likely To Open Slightly Up

(RTTNews) - Canadian shares are likely to open slightly higher Wednesday morning, tracking crude oil prices.

Investors will also be reacting to quarterly earnings announcements from National Bank of Canada and Royal Bank of Canada.

The mood is likely to be largely cautious with traders looking ahead to Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium.

In earnings news, National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) reported that its third-quarter net income was C$826 million, down 2% from C$839 million last year. Earnings per share declined to C$2.35 from C$2.36 a year ago.

Royal Bank of Canada (TSX: RY) reported net income of $3.6 billion for the quarter ended July 31, 2022 , down $719 million or 17% from the prior year.

National Bank of Canada's Board of Directors declared a dividend of C$0.92 per share for the quarter ending October 31. The dividend is payable on November 1 to common shareholders of record on September 26.

In other corporate news, BRP Inc. (DOO.TO) said Tuesday that, following the recent cyberattack, information on certain employees and suppliers accessed by an unauthorized third party has been leaked on the dark web. BRP believes that the compromised information relating to certain of its suppliers is limited in quantity and sensitivity.

Wholesale Sales in Canada decreased to -0.6% in July from 0.1% in June of 2022, preliminary data from Statistics Canada showed.

The Canadian market ended slightly up on Tuesday, after spending much of the day's session moving along the flat line. The mood was quite cautious with investors tracking global cues and looking ahead to Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium later this week.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended the session at 19,985.35, up 10.43 points or 0.05% from the previous close.

Asian stocks fell for an eighth straight session on Wednesday, with Europe's energy woes and a drought-fueled power crisis in China keeping investors nervous.

Investors also braced for a hawkish message from the Federal Reserve at this week's Jackson Hole symposium.

European stocks are turning in a mixed performance with investors making cautious moves amid concerns over a worsening energy crisis and hawkish comments from Fed officials on the pace of future rate rises.

Investors also await minutes of the ECB's last policy meeting, which might provide additional hawkish signals.

In commodities trading, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September are up $1.06 or 1.13% at $94.80 a barrel.

Gold futures are down $2.50 or 0.14% at $1,758.70 an ounce, while Silver futures are lower by $0.141 or 0.74% at $18.885 an ounce.