The Before the Bell report is updated throughout the premarket to reflect the latest news developments and market moves. Check back later for updates.
North American stock futures are nearly unchanged ahead of the opening bell, although crude oil prices are rallying, which should lend some support to the TSX energy sector later today. Futures for the S&P 500, Dow, Nasdaq and the TSX have all been fluctuating in and out of the red this morning.
Alcoa unofficially kicked off the first-quarter earnings season Wednesday night, with its adjusted profits beating Street expectations by 2 cents, but revenues failed to meet consensus views. It also forecast a supply glut for the rest of this year.
It wasn't a particularly uplifting start to what is expected to be a sombre earnings season overall, as sharply lower energy prices and the strong U.S. dollar take a bite out of corporate profits. Many of the big U.S. banks will be among the 35 S&P 500 companies reporting results next week, and analysts are expecting earnings for companies in the benchmark index to have fallen 5.8 per cent in the first three months of this year. It's worth pointing out that analysts have a track record of being overly pessimistic, however; over the past five years, they were on average 5.1 per cent lower than the final quarterly results for earnings, according to Bloomberg tabulations.
Minutes released Wednesday from the last Federal Reserve policy meeting failed to provide much insight on the timing of when the central bank will start hiking interest rates. That will likely keep the focus on earnings results over the next several trading sessions.
In overseas markets today, Hong Kong was a standout again, with the Hang Seng rising 2.7 per cent, even as the Shanghai composite index fell. Mainland Chinese investors once again used up their 10.5 billion yuan daily investment quota, as they seek arbitrage profits from a large valuation gap between Hong Kong and Shanghai shares in the same companies.
In Europe today, the Bank of England did the expected and announced no change in interest rates. And Germany released some upbeat economic data, showing a rise in both exports and industrial output in February.
There's little fresh news propelling crude's advances this morning; mostly, traders are betting Wednesday's pullback - in response to a higher-than-expected build in U.S. inventories - was overdone.
Now, here's a look at the latest market numbers and other highlights ahead of the trading day.
Futures:
S&P 500 -0.01 per cent; Dow -0.01 per cent; Nasdaq -0.01 per cent
Equities:
Hong Kong's Hang Seng +2.70 per cent
Shanghai composite index -0.92 per cent
Japan's Nikkei +0.75 per cent
London's FTSE 100 +0.70 per cent
Germany's DAX +0.53 per cent
France's CAC 40 +0.92 per cent
Stoxx 600 +0.58 per cent
Commodities:
WTI crude oil (Nymex May) +2.70 per cent at $51.78 (U.S.) a barrel
Natural gas (Nymex May) +0.95 per cent at $2.64
Gold (Comex Jun) -0.32 per cent at $1,199.20 (U.S.) an ounce
Copper (Comex May) +0.64 per cent at $2.75 (U.S.) a pound
Currencies:
Canadian dollar at 79.81 (U.S.), up 0.0009
U.S. dollar index up 0.3890 at 98.32
Bonds:
U.S. 10-year Treasury yield 1.89 per cent, down 0.02
ECONOMIC INDICATORS:
Canadian building permits fell 0.9 per cent in February from January vs. the estimate for a 3.3 per cent rise.
Canada new housing price index for February rose 0.2 per cent from January versus expectations for a rise of 0.1 per cent.
U.S. initial jobless claims for last week was 281,000, in line with expectations.
(10 a.m. ET) U.S. wholesale inventories. Consensus is an increase of 0.1 per cent in February.
STOCKS TO WATCH:
Alcoa shares are down 2.5 per cent in the premarket. Late Wednesday, it reported that its first-quarter adjusted profits beat Street expectations by 2 cents, but revenues failed to meet consensus views. It also forecast a supply glut for the rest of this year.
Corus Entertainment reported Q2 adjusted EPS of 33 cents vs. the estimated 35 cents. It said it's likely to miss "segment profit guidance."
Walgreens said its second-quarter revenue rose 35.5 per cent, missing expectations. It also said it would close about 200 stores in the U.S.
Constellation Brands reported Q4 adjusted EPS of $1.03 (U.S.) vs. estimates for 94 cents.
Other earnings today include: ADF Group; PostMedia; Sandvine; Sirius XM Canada; PriceSmart; Ruby Tuesday.
LinkedIn said that it agreed to buy online business learning company Lynda.com in a deal valued at $1.5-billion (U.S.).
ANALYST ACTIONS:
Canaccord Genuity upgraded Cameco to "buy" from "hold" and hiked its price target to $23 (Canadian) from $20, citing "turning momentum" in the uranium market.
Canaccord Genuity downgraded Detour Gold to "hold" from "buy" and cut its price target to $13.50 (Canadian) from $15.
Canaccord Genuity upgraded AuRico Gold to "buy" from "hold" but cut its price target to $4.75 (Canadian) from $5.
JPMorgan downgraded PulteGroup to "underweight" from "neutral."