(Updates with market opening prices)

By Ragini Mathur

Jan 8 (Reuters) - Canada's main index fell on Wednesday,

with investors taking stock of a report that said U.S.

President-elect Donald Trump was considering declaring a

national economic emergency to allow for new tariffs.

The S&P/TSX composite index was down 0.26%, or

64.5 points, at 24,865.39 and was set for its third straight

session of declines.

CNN on Wednesday reported that Trump's move will allow

him to build a new tariff program by using the International

Economic Emergency Powers Act.

Investors have been concerned whether Trump, who is set

to take office on Jan. 20, would go through with his rhetoric of

imposing a 25% tariff on imports from Canada, which exports 75%

of all goods and services to the U.S.

"There is quite a bit of caution in the markets with all

the policy uncertainty that we're facing," said Douglas Porter,

chief economist at BMO Capital Markets.

"The incoming President Trump is quite serious about

imposing tariffs on Canada in a meaningful fashion and that's

clearly a negative for the Canadian economy and could weigh

pretty heavily on the TSX."

Canadian 10-year benchmark yield rose

following the report, mirroring its U.S. counterpart.

This weighed on rate-sensitive real estate

and bond proxy utilities sectors, which lost 1.1% and

0.9%, respectively.

The domestic market also took cues from Wall Street

where the benchmark S&P 500 was down 0.3%.

The

U.S. weekly jobless claims

fell to a 11-month low last week, pointing to a stable

labor market, while a separate report showed private payrolls

growth slowed sharply in December.

All eyes are now on Friday's U.S. nonfarm payrolls data,

while minutes from the Federal Reserve's December meeting is due

at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Back home, the capped communications sector

was among the top decliners on TSX, down 1%.

Cannabis firm Tilray Brands declined 5.6%,

weighing on the healthcare sector, which slipped

1.8%.