Global markets took back some of yesterday’s relief rally as cracks quickly began to appear in the fragile Persian Gulf truce, ​nudging oil prices back up and reminding investors ‌the inflationary fallout would last a long while yet.

Wall Street futures were in the red after a sharply higher close on North American markets yesterday.

TSX futures followed sentiment lower.

In Canada, investors are getting results from BlackBerry Ltd., Cogeco Inc., Cogeco Communications Inc., Roots Corp. and Richelieu Hardware Ltd.

“It is very difficult for investors as they are dealing with a conflict where the protagonists don’t even know what they want,” said Peter Kinsella, UBP’s Head of Investment Services UK.

Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.62 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 declined 0.37 per cent, Germany’s DAX fell 1.18 per cent and France’s CAC 40 retreated 0.81 per cent.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.73 per cent lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slid 0.54 per cent.

Oil prices rose as doubts over a fragile ​two-week Middle East ceasefire raised concerns that ‌energy flows through the crucial Strait of Hormuz will remain restricted.

Brent crude futures were up 3.2 per cent at US$97.78 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude ⁠rose ​3.2 per cent to US$97.47 a barrel.

“The chances of a meaningful [strait] reopening any time soon look dim,” said Vandana Hari, founder of oil market analysis provider Vanda Insights, predicting continued volatility in oil prices.

“The ‌futures market ​looks a bit broken,” ‌she said. Otherwise, “prices should have snapped right back to pre-ceasefire levels by now.”

In other commodities, spot gold was little changed at US$4,715.45 an ounce. U.S. gold futures for June delivery fell 0.8 per cent to US$4,739.40.

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

The day range on the loonie was 72.14 US cents to 72.27 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was down about 1.54 per cent against the greenback over the past month.

The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, declined 0.13 per cent to 99.01. The U.S. dollar traded at $1.3858.

The euro rose 0.14 per cent to US$1.1678. The British pound climbed 0.11 per cent to US$1.3409.

In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last down at 4.288 per cent.

Japan’s machine tool orders and consumer confidence

Germany’s industrial production and trade surplus

8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. personal spending and income for February. The Street expects month-over-month increases of 0.6 per cent and 0.3 per cent, respectively.

8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. initial jobless claims for week of April 4. Estimate is 208,000, up 6,000 from the previous week.

8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. core PCE price index for February. Consensus is a rise of 0.3 per cent from January and up 2.9 per cent year-over-year.

8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. real GDP and GDP price index for Q4. The Street expects annualized rate increases of 0.6 per cent and 3.8 per cent, respectively.

10 a.m. ET: U.S. wholesale inventories for February.

With Reuters and The Canadian Press