Equities
Global markets were mostly higher as investors assessed freshly released U.S. economic data, as expectations of Federal Reserve interest rate cuts rose.
Wall Street futures were mixed while TSX futures were on the rise after major North American markets closed up yesterday. Dow futures were up 0.06 per cent, S&P 500 futures slipped 0.03 per cent and Nasdaq futures were 0.23 per cent lower as of 9:10 a.m. ET.
On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from Alibaba ADR, Analog Devices Inc., Dell Technologies Inc., Autodesk Inc., Best Buy Co. Inc., Workday Inc. and HP Inc.
Markets say the release of a producer inflation report and retail sales figures in the U.S. following the longest ever government shutdown, which left markets and the Fed navigating a data gap.
“This is going to be the first sort of real insight that we’ll be getting into how the economy held up across that long shutdown, so understandably, there is an element of caution,” said Fiona Cincotta, senior market analyst at City Index.
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.66 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 climbed 0.44 per cent, Germany’s DAX gained 0.79 per cent and France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.7 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.07 per cent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.69 per cent.
Commodities
Oil prices extended an earlier decline after news reports cited a U.S. official saying that Ukraine had agreed on the framework of a potential peace deal.
Brent futures fell 1.6 per cent to US$62.37 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude declined 1.7 per cent to US$57.87.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky could visit the U.S. in the next few days to finalize a deal with President Donald Trump to end the war with Russia, Kyiv’s national security chief Rustem Umerov said.
“Some media outlets are reporting that Ukraine agreed to a peace deal,” UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said. “That said, it needs two to tango, and it remains unclear if Russia agrees as well.”
In other commodities, spot gold rose 0.2 per cent to US$4,147.53 an ounce, after surging more than 2 per cent yesterday. U.S. gold futures for December delivery were 1.17 per cent higher at US$4,141.40 an ounce.
Currencies and bonds
The Canadian dollar weakened 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 1.25 per cent against the greenback over the past month.
The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, slide 0.12 per cent to 100.02.
The euro advanced 0.24 per cent to US$1.15508. The British pound gained 0.3 per cent to US$1.3144.
In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last down at 4.015 per cent.
Economic news
Germany GDP
8:30 a.m. ET: Canadian wholesale trade for October. Advance results for October indicate that wholesale sales (excluding petroleum, petroleum products, and other hydrocarbons and excluding oilseed and grain) decreased 0.1 per cent.
8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. retail sales for September, which increased 0.2 per cent, missing the estimated rise of 0.4 per cent from August.
8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. PPI final demand for September, which rebounded as the cost of energy goods surged and producers passed on some tariffs. The 0.3-per-cent gain from August met analyst expectations, while the index increased 2.7 per cent year-over-year.
9 a.m. ET: U.S. S&P Cotality Case-Shiller Home Price Index (20 city) for September.
9 a.m. ET: U.S. FHFA House Price Index for September.
10 a.m. ET: U.S. business inventories for August. The Street expects a month-over-month drop of 0.1 per cent.
10 a.m. ET: U.S. Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index for November.
10 a.m. ET: U.S. pending home sales for October.
Also: Quebec and Saskatchewan fall fiscal update
With Reuters and The Canadian Press