TORONTO - The Toronto stock market headed for a flat open Tuesday amid little movement in commodity prices and ahead of the release of a key reading on American consumer confidence later in the morning.
The Canadian dollar was down 0.13 of a cent to 100.76 cents US following a jump of about 3/4 of a cent on Monday.
U.S. futures were little changed with the Dow Jones industrial futures off two points to 13,198, the Nasdaq futures dipped 0.2 of a point to 2,776.8 and the S&P 500 futures eased 0.4 of a point to 1,414.7.
Markets in Toronto and New York netted strong gains and the greenback weakened Monday after U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said that the U.S. job market was still weak despite three months of job gains in excess of 200,000. Bernanke’s comments were a strong indication that the central bank is prepared to keep its low-interest rate policies in place for some time to come despite the recent signs of economic growth.
Traders also interpreted his remarks to suggest that the Fed could launch another round of buying bonds.
The Fed has already embarked on two rounds of bond-buying, most recently in late 2010, known as quantitative easing. The mere thought that a third round of bond-buying, dubbed QE3 by industry insiders, might be possible was all it took for markets to respond.
Commodity prices also responded positively to Bernanke's comments but on Tuesday, the May crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange declined four cents to US$106.99 a barrel.
Copper prices declined three cents to US$3.86 a pound after jumping eight cents Monday. Bullion prices added slightly to Monday's $23 rise, up $1 to US$1,686.60 an ounce.
On the economic front, traders will focus on the U.S. Conference Board's latest take on consumer confidence. Economists expect little change in its index.
