Canadian building permits surge in October ..

The number of new building permits issued in Canada jumped significantly more-than-expected in October, rebounding from three consecutive months of declines, official data showed on Tuesday.

In a report, Statistic Canada said the number of new building permits issued surged by a seasonally adjusted 11.9% in October, blowing past expectations for a gain of 1.9%.

September’s figure was revised to a drop of 4.1% from a previously reported decline of 4.9%.   

Year-on-year, Canadian building permits issued in October rose at an annualized rate of 2.2%, after tumbling 12.1% in September.  

After three consecutive monthly decreases, the value of building permits issued by Canadian municipalities rose 11.9% to CAD6.3 billion in October. The increase came from the non-residential sector, particularly in Ontario.

The value of non-residential permits rose 32.8% to CAD2.7 billion in October, following three consecutive monthly declines.

In the residential sector, the value of permits edged down 0.1% to CAD3.6 billion in October. This was the component's third straight monthly decline.

Following the release of the data, the Canadian dollar remained lower against its U.S. counterpart, with USD/CAD gaining 0.33% to trade at 1.0197.

..U.S. stocks mostly higher on IMF loan package; Dow up 0.38%

U.S. stock markets closed mixed on Wednesday, as investors weighed the potential impact of the pending European summit.
At the close of U.S. trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.38%, the S&P 500 pushed higher by 0.17%, while the Nasdaq Composite index gave back 0.07%.
Late session news that the G20 is considering a USD600 billion International Monetary Fund lending program to the euro zone lifted stocks.

However, uncertainty regarding the effectiveness of the European Union summit and negative news out of Italy kept the bulls in check during most of the session.

Despite news from the financial sector that Citigroup will be slashing 4500 jobs and taking a USD400 million charge, shares of the bank advanced 0.61%.
On the retail front, woman's clothier Talbots soared over 60% after private equity firm Sycamore Partners made a takeover offer.
Meanwhile in earnings news, defense contractor SAIC climbed 6% after beating earnings estimates.

Across the Atlantic, European markets were with The EURO STOXX 50 lower by 0.50%, France's CAC 40 given back 0.11%, Germany's DAX dropped 0.57%, while Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.39%.
Earlier Wednesday, U.S. mortgage data showed a surprising improvement adding to the domestic bullishness.