Equities
Global markets were mixed in cautious trading, in light of growing evidence of a softening in the U.S. economy ahead of earnings from Nvidia tomorrow.
Investors were rattled early on by an order from U.S. President Donald Trump to limit Chinese investments in strategic areas such as chips, AI and aerospace.
Wall Street futures were in negative territory after a mixed close for U.S. markets yesterday.
TSX futures pointed higher as markets look to Bank of Montreal and Bank of Nova Scotia to kick off first-quarter bank earnings reports.
Investors are also getting results from EQB Inc., Maple Leaf Foods Inc., Stantec Inc. and Leon’s Furniture Ltd.
On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from Home Depot Inc. and Intuit Inc.
Sentiment in the markets is fragile, but there has not been much in the way of volatility, Chris Beauchamp, chief strategist at IG, said.
“This is a sharp contrast to the past couple of years where crises seem to come one at a time and then, you could just deal with them when they occurred, and now it seems to be ‘everything, everywhere, all at once’,” he said.
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.25 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.26 per cent, Germany’s DAX gained 0.06 per cent and France’s CAC 40 gave back 0.08 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 1.39 per cent lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1.32 per cent.
Commodities
Oil prices rose as fresh U.S. sanctions imposed on Middle Eastern producer Iran increased concerns supply might tighten and as global refining margins remained strong.
Brent crude futures gained 0.2 per cent to US$74.93 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures climbed 0.3 per cent to US$70.93 a barrel. Both contracts gained in yesterday’s session after a $2 drop last Friday.
“In the short term, I continue to think crude oil is looking for a base. The fresh U.S. sanctions announced on Iran overnight will likely assist with this as will the Iraqi oil minister’s commitment to rein in its oversupply,” said IG market analyst Tony Sycamore.
In other commodities, spot gold fell 0.4 per cent to US$2,940.03 an ounce. U.S. gold futures declined 0.3 per cent to US$2,953.50.
Currencies and bonds
The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart.
The day range on the loonie was 70.02 US cents to 70.22 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was up about 0.94 per cent against the greenback over the past month.
The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, rose 0.04 per cent to 106.64.
The euro edged higher to US$1.0472. The British pound slid 0.05 per cent to US$1.262.
In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last down at 4.339 per cent ahead of the North American opening bell.
Economic news
Japan machine tool orders
Germany GDP
(8:30 a.m. ET) Canada’s manufacturing sales for January.
(9 a.m. ET) U.S. S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index (20 city) for December. Estimate is a rise of 0.3 per cent from Novemer and up 4.4 per cent year-over-year.
(9 a.m. ET) U.S. FHFA House Price Index for December. Estimate is an increase of 0.2 per cent from November and a rise of 4.3 per cent year-over-year.
(10 a.m. ET) U.S. Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index for February.
With Reuters and The Canadian Press