Jan 10 (Reuters) - Futures for Canada's main stock index were muted on Wednesday ahead of the earnings season and U.S. inflation data later this week that investors are watching for potential clues on interest rate cuts.
March futures on the S&P/TSX index were up 0.02% at 7:04 a.m. ET (1204 GMT), while their Wall Street peers were mixed.
The commodity-heavy TSX pulled back from a 20-month high in the previous session due to losses in financials and mining stocks.
Gold and copper prices increased on Wednesday, supported by a slightly weaker U.S. dollar.
Oil prices were steady as Middle East supply concerns arising from the Israel-Hamas war balanced worries about weak economic growth.
With investors having scaled back bets of a rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve in March, data on consumer prices due on Thursday will be closely watched for further clues on the interest rate path.
78% of traders expect the Bank of Canada to start lowering rates as soon as April.
On Friday, U.S. banking giants, including JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N) and Bank of America (BAC.N), will kick off the earnings season and are expected to report lower quarterly profits.
Canada's big banks are also preparing to set aside more rainy-day funds in the new fiscal year to deal with rising bad debts.
Meanwhile, brokerage CIBC cut its rating on Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO) to "neutral" from "outperformer", while Barclays raised its target price on the railroad operator to C$170 from C$155.
COMMODITIES AT 7:04 a.m. ET
Gold futures : $2,039.4; +0.3%
US crude : $72.47; +0.3%
Brent crude : $77.76; +0.2%
Reporting by Amruta Khandekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Ravi Prakash Kumar
