North American equity markets got off to a muted start on Wednesday as investors waited on the latest commentary from the U.S. Federal Reserve on how it sees the COVID-19 outbreak and gradual economic reopenings playing out.
The S&P/TSX Composite rose a tenth of a per cent, the S&P 500 was up a quarter of a per cent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was unchanged and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained seven-tenths of a per cent.
Oil prices retreated modestly ahead of the release of U.S. crude inventory data, with U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate down 1.4 per cent to trade at US$38.40 per barrel. Alberta’s Western Canadian Select slipped 0.34 per cent to US$29.49 per barrel.
The Canadian dollar rose a tenth of a cent against its American counterpart to 74.67 cents U.S., amid broad weakness seen from the greenback.
