Equities
Tech-heavy stock markets were heading for their biggest weekly fall in seven months as investors fretted over the sustainability of a rally in artificial intelligence stocks.
Wall Street futures reversed course and were in the red after markets closed lower yesterday amid a tech selloff. Dow futures were down 0.3 per cent, S&P 500 futures fell 0.4 per cent and Nasdaq futures were 0.6 per cent lower as of 9 a.m. ET.
TSX futures followed sentiment lower ahead of a surprisingly strong jobs report for October.
In Canada, investors are getting results from Telus Corp., Brookfield Asset Management Ltd., Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP, Enbridge Inc., Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp., Emera Inc., Onex Corp., Boralex Inc., Constellation Software Inc. and Canadian Utilities Ltd.
Telus has posted a 68-per-cent increase in net income in its third quarter following a one-time debt repurchase, and reported flat revenue as it added more internet customers than expected and grew its health business.
Enbridge has missed estimates for third-quarter profit as the pipeline operator was hit by higher financing costs from the acquisition of U.S. gas utilities and other capital investments.
On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from Constellation Energy Corp.
“Sometimes it’s a gradual shift in markets whereby an increasing number of people say: ‘Well, I’m well positioned ... maybe I’ll take some money off the table,’” said Herald van der Linde, head of equity strategy for Asia Pacific at HSBC.
“And a second one says so. And a third one. And a fourth one says, hey, these three are selling. I might maybe be selling as well, right? So it’s a shift in the market sentiment that has its own sort of dynamic. That might well be unfolding a little bit now.”
Wall Street’s Week Ahead: Investors watching U.S. economic clues as market pulls back, tech teeters
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.64 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 declined 0.76 per cent, Germany’s DAX slid 0.9 per cent and France’s CAC 40 gave back 0.48 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 1.2 per cent lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slid 0.92 per cent.
Commodities
Oil prices were on the rise but remained on track for a second consecutive weekly loss after three days of declines on worries about excess supply and slowing U.S. demand.
Brent crude futures gained 0.8 per cent to US$63.88 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 0.9 per cent to US$59.94.
An unexpected U.S. inventory build of 5.2 million barrels reignited oversupply fears this week, said IG Markets analyst Tony Sycamore.
“This has been amplified by risk-aversion flows, bolstering the dollar, and the ongoing U.S. government shutdown, which continues to cloud economic activity,” he added.
In other commodities, spot gold was up 0.6 per cent at US$3,999.89 an ounce. U.S. gold futures for December delivery gained 0.4 per cent to US$4,008.20 an ounce.
Currencies and bonds
The Canadian dollar strengthened against its U.S. counterpart.
The day range on the loonie was 70.78 US cents to 70.90 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was down about 0.74 per cent against the greenback over the past month.
The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, slid 0.11 per cent to 99.62.
The euro was up 0.11 per cent to US$1.1561. The British pound dropped 0.11 per cent to US$1.3123.
In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last up at 4.101 per cent.
Economic news
8:30 am ET: Canada employment for October. The economy added 66,600 jobs, beating expectations, as unemployment rate fell to 6.9 per cent. Consensus had been for 20,000 net job losses, with the unemployment rate rising one notch to 7.2 per cent.
10 am ET: University of Michigan consumer sentiment
With Reuters and The Canadian Press