Equities
Global markets were mixed as some sense of calm returned following volatility spurred by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats, leaving investors to focus on more micro-led events such as company earnings.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq led losses among the major Wall Street indexes at the open following downbeat forecasts from Alphabet and AMD in a busy day for corporate earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.02 per cent to 44,563.63, the S&P 500 fell 0.29 per cent to 6,020.45, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.62 per cent to 19,533.053 at the bell.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX Composite Index opened 0.26 per cent higher at 25,350.01, lifted by materials shares.
In Canada, investors are getting results from Suncor Energy Inc. and Great-West Lifeco Inc.
On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from Dayforce Inc., Ford Motor Co., Novo Nordisk, Qualcomm Inc., Uber Technologies Inc. and Walt Disney Co.
“The combination of slowing cloud revenue and massive AI investment – which will reach reportedly $75-billion at Google [parent Alphabet] this year – raises a few eyebrows among investors,” Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, wrote in a note.
“By few eyebrows, I mean a 7-per-cent drop in the afterhours trading as reaction to the latest results.”
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.16 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.27 per cent, Germany’s DAX slipped 0.04 per cent and France’s CAC 40 gave back 0.22 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.08 per cent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slid 0.9 per cent.
Commodities
Oil prices declined as rising stockpiles in the U.S. and market worries about a new Sino-U.S. trade war offset President Donald Trump’s renewed push to eliminate Iranian crude exports.
Brent crude futures were down 1.3 per cent at US$75.22 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude lost 1.3 per cent to trade at US$71.76.
“Trump tariff chaos and trade war is no good for global growth and oil demand growth. Business investments and consumer spending will likely fall in the face of these highly erratic and growth-negative actions,” said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB.
“The oil market is now caught between increasing fears that an escalating trade war will damage global oil demand growth on the one hand and possible sudden disruption of Iranian oil export,” he added.
In other commodities, spot gold rose 0.8 per cent to US$2,864 an ounce after hitting a record high of US$2,877 earlier in the session. U.S. gold futures gained 0.4 per cent to US$2,885.90.
Currencies and bonds
The Canadian dollar strengthened against its U.S. counterpart.
The day range on the loonie was 69.71 US cents to 70.08 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was up about 0.68 per cent against the greenback over the past month.
The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, declined 0.4 per cent to 107.52.
The euro rose 0.34 per cent to US$1.0416. The British pound gained 0.42 per cent to US$1.2534.
In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last down at 4.456 per cent.
Corporate news
Obesity drug maker Novo Nordisk has forecast slower growth this year after Wegovy sales more than doubled in the fourth quarter, with analysts and investors describing the results as “good enough” to ease nerves about stiff competition from rival Eli Lilly.
Walt Disney sharply outperformed Wall Street’s quarterly earnings estimates, with results buoyed by the strong holiday box office performance of animated sequel Moana 2 and higher profits at the company’s streaming business.
Uber Technologies surpassed market expectations for fourth-quarter revenue, as more people used the ride-hailing platform for office commutes and its delivery business benefited from strong holiday-season demand.
Economic news
China, Japan and Euro zone services and composite PMI
(8:15 a.m. ET) U.S. ADP National Employment Report for January.
(8:30 a.m. ET) Canada’s merchandise trade balance for December.
(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. goods and services trade deficit for December.
(9:30 a.m. ET) Canada’s S&P Global Services PMI for January.
(9:45 a.m. ET) U.S. S&P global services and composite PMI for January.
(10 a.m. ET) U.S. ISM Services PMI for January.
With Reuters and The Canadian Press