Bay Street Likely To See Cautious Start

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is likely to see a cautious start Wednesday morning with investors looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision.

The focus will be on the accompanying statement and Fed Chief Jerome Powell's post meeting comments for clues about future interest rate hikes.

Overnight data showing a slower-than-expected increase in U.S. labor costs helped spur expectations that inflation will ease further in the coming months and eventually pave the way for the Fed to cut rates by year-end.

Data on Canadian manufacturing activity for the month of January is due at 10 AM ET. Markit Economics said the S&P Global Canada Manufacturing PMI dropped to 49.2 in December of 2022 from 49.6 in November.

The Canadian market ended on a bright note on Tuesday, lifted by gains in technology, materials, energy and financials sectors.

Several stocks from industrials and consumer discretionary sectors too posted impressive gains.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 195.27 points or 0.95% at 20,767.38, slightly off the day's high.

Asian stocks climbed higher on Wednesday even as a cautious undertone prevailed ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting outcome later in the day.

The Fed is likely to raise interest rates by another 25 basis points and signal that a pause in rate hikes is on the horizon.

Chinese shares rose after two manufacturing surveys painted a positive picture of the economy.

European stocks are modestly higher in cautious trade with investors awaiting the outcome of the Federal Reserve meeting.

In commodities trading, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures are up $0.61 or 0.77% at $79.48 a barrel.

Gold futures are up $1.10 or 0.06% at $1,946.40 an ounce, while Silver futures are down $0.196 or 0.82% at $23.640 an ounce.