Equities
Global stocks struggled for the direction ahead of interest rate decisions from central banks in the U.S. and Canada. Investors were also watching a flurry of corporate earnings and fast-approaching trade deadlines set by the U.S. President.
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 0.1 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 lost 0.18 per cent, Germany’s DAX gained 0.087 per cent and France’s CAC 40 rose by 0.38 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.
Commodities
Oil prices steadied as investors awaited developments Trump’s shorter deadline for Russia to end the Ukraine war and his tariff threats to countries that trade Russian oil.
The most active Brent crude futures were down 5 US cents or about 0.1 per cent, at US$71.63 a barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude slipped 5 US cents to US$69.61.
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 signalled it would do so, which could affect 2.3 million barrels per day (bpd) of Russian oil exports.
“Events in the last few days have moved the needle a touch more, but we still appear to be somewhat rangebound and testing the next resistance level,” said Rystad Energy analyst Janiv Shah.
In other commodities, spot gold was up 0.1 per cent to US$3,327.85.
Currencies and bonds
The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart.
The day range on the loonie was 72.42 US cents to 72.67 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was down about 1.56 per cent against the greenback over the past month.
The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, gained 0.41 per cent to 99.3.
The euro lost 0.65 per cent to US$1.1471. The British pound lost 0.31 per cent to US$1.331.
In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last flat at 4.355 per cent.
Economic news
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.
With Reuters and The Canadian Press