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Global markets edged higher as investors weighed a broadly improving corporate earnings outlook and easing AI-disruption worries against growing concerns of a potential U.S.-Iran conflict. |
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Wall Street futures were mixed after limited losses on major U.S. markets yesterday. |
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TSX futures were in positive territory after Canada’s main stock index posted another record close yesterday. |
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In Canada, investors are getting results from Onex Corp. and HudBay Minerals Inc. |
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“Clearly, equity investors are getting used to the noisy geopolitical environment,” said Mabrouk Chetouane, head of global market strategy at Natixis Investment Managers. |
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“They are still focusing on economic fundamentals instead of geopolitical risks. And when you look at metrics such as valuations, earnings and interest rate expectations, things look pretty stable.” |
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Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.43 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.6 per cent, Germany’s DAX advanced 0.18 per cent and France’s CAC 40 gained 0.7 per cent. |
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In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 1.12 per cent lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1.1 per cent. |
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Oil prices hovered near six-month highs on growing concerns a conflict may erupt after Washington said Tehran will suffer if it does not agree a deal on its nuclear activity in a matter of days. |
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Brent crude futures edged down 0.5 per cent to US$71.27, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude eased 0.6 per cent to US$66.06. |
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“We’re waiting for a potential binary outcome, if we should take [U.S. President Donald] Trump’s words at face value,” said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank. “The market is nervous, it’s going to be a wait-and-see day.” |
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In other commodities, spot gold rose 0.7 per cent to US$5,032.49 an ounce. U.S. gold futures for April delivery gained 1.1 per cent to US$5,052.70. |
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The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart. |
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The day range on the loonie was 72.96 US cents to 73.11 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar has edged up about 0.07 per cent against the greenback over the past month. |
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The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, was little changed at 97.91. |
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The euro declined 0.1 per cent to US$1.1762. The British pound climbed 0.04 per cent to US$1.3469. |
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In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last down at 4.075 per cent. |
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Euro zone PMI: Business activity accelerated faster than forecast in February as manufacturing swung back to growth for the first time since October, a survey showed. |
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8:30 a.m. ET: Canadian retail sales for December. The Street is projecting a decline of 0.5 per cent from November. |
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8:30 a.m. ET: Canada’s industrial product and raw materials price indexes for January. |
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8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. real GDP for Q4. Consensus is a jump of 2.8 per cent on an annualized rate basis. |
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8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. personal income and consumption for December. Consensus is month-over-month increases of 0.3 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively. |
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9:45 a.m. ET: U.S. S&P Global PMIs for February. |
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10 a.m. ET: U.S. new home sales for December. |
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10 a.m. ET: U.S. quarterly services survey for Q4. |
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10 a.m. ET: U.S. University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for February. |
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With Reuters and The Canadian Press |
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