Global markets were mixed as traders awaited central bank interest rate decisions, a flurry of earnings and fast-approaching trade deadlines set by the U.S. President.

Equities

Stocks were mixed as investors eyed corporate earnings reports and interest rate decisions from Canadian and U.S. central banks expected on Wednesday.

Wall Street and TSX futures were higher.

In Canada, investors are getting results from Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Agnico Eagle Mines, Ivanhoe Mines, CGI, Tourmaline Oil and Capital Power.

On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from companies including HSBC Holdings, UBS, Rio Tinto, Ford Motor, Qualcomm, and Paramount Group. Results from U.S. tech giants Microsoft and Meta were expected to set the tone for the rest of earnings season.

“It’s been a solid U.S. reporting season so far, but these megacap names need to run it hot and blow the lights out, given the bar to please has been sufficiently raised,” said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone.

On the trade front, investors were cautious after after two days of trade talks between the U.S. and China concluded without any major breakthroughs. U.S. President Donald Trump’s deadline for trade talks with many countries is Aug. 1.

The Bank of Canada and the U.S. Federal Reserve are expected to hold interest rates steady today, though the Fed could see rare dissent by some central bank officials in favor of lower borrowing costs.

“I’m not expecting a rate cut,” said George Lagarias, chief economist at Forvis Mazars said of the Fed’s afternoon decision.

“They’re going to hint a rate cut in September, but they’re not going to commit themselves to it.”

The Bank of Japan is also expected to deliver a rate hold on Thursday.

Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.19 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 lost 0.26 per cent, Germany’s DAX gained 0.22 per cent and France’s CAC 40 rose by 0.77 per cent.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.05 per cent lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed down 1.36 per cent.

Oil prices fell as investors watched for developments in Trump’s shorter deadline for Russia to end the Ukraine war and his tariff threats to countries that trade Russian oil.

Brent crude futures eased 0.4 per cent to US$72.20 a barrel and U.S. crude futures were down 0.5 per cent at US$68.87.

On Tuesday, Trump said he would impose measures such as 100-per-cent tariffs on on Russia’s trading partners if the country did not make progress on ending the war within 10 to 12 days.

China and India are the main beneficiaries of Russian crude, with the latter being more vulnerable, PVM Associates analyst John Evans said in a note.

JP Morgan analysts wrote that while China was unlikely to comply with U.S. sanctions, India has signaled it would do so, which could affect 2.3 million barrels per day (bpd) of Russian oil exports.

In other commodities, spot gold was up 0.2 per cent to US$3,333.07.

The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart.

The day range on the loonie was 72.54 US cents to 72.67 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was down about 1.41 per cent against the greenback over the past month.

The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, lost 0.06 per cent to 98.83.

The euro gained a slight 0.03 per cent to US$1.1551. The British pound rose 0.22 per cent to US$1.338.

In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last up at 4.33 per cent.

Euro area GDP for the second quarter, plus economic confidence

8:15 a.m. ET: U.S. ADP national employment report

9:30 a.m. ET: U.S. GDP for second quarter. Consensus is for 2.4-per-cent growth, annualized.

9:45 a.m. ET: Bank of Canada policy announcement and monetary policy report. Press conference follows at 10:30 a.m. ET

10 a.m. ET: U.S. pending home sales for June

2 p.m. ET: FOMC policy announcement. Press conference follows at 2:30 p.m. ET.