Equities
Global markets hovered near record highs as traders found ways to justify why increasingly complicated world economics and politics would not affect stocks.
Wall Street futures were in negative territory after major North American markets lower yesterday.
TSX futures pointed higher as commodity prices extended their climb.
In Canada, investors are getting results from Cogeco Inc. and Cogeco Communications Inc.
On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co.
“We are starting the year as we left off last, people are very positive towards equities, and within that there is a slow burn rotation from the U.S to the rest of the world, whether out of conviction or risk management, is hard to say,” said Ben Laidler, head of equity strategy at Bradesco BBI.
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.09 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.28 per cent, Germany’s DAX declined 0.45 per cent and France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.05 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 1.48 per cent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.56 per cent.
Commodities
Oil prices rose for a fifth straight session on fears of Iranian supply disruptions due to deadly civil unrest and as the U.S. and Iran traded threats.
Brent futures were up 1.2 per cent to US$66.23 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude advanced 1.1 per cent to US$61.83 a barrel.
“We are in a period of geopolitical instability and potential supply disruption,” said Jorge Montepeque, managing director at Onyx Capital Group. “The protests in Iran are seen as potentially leading to a regime change. That’s a big one and the possibility of a U.S. attack is looking high.”
In other commodities, spot gold rose 1.1 per cent to US$4,636.78 an ounce after hitting a record high of US$4,639.48 earlier in the session. U.S. gold futures for February delivery rose 1 per cent to US$4,643.90.
Currencies and bonds
The Canadian dollar strengthened against its U.S. counterpart.
The day range on the loonie was 71.94 US cents to 72.12 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was down about 0.75 per cent against the greenback over the past month.
The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, declined 0.11 per cent to 99.03.
The euro climbed 0.11 per cent to US$1.16580. The British pound gained 0.24 per cent to US$1.3456.
In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last down at 4.168 per cent.
Economic news
Japan machine tool orders
8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. retail sales for November. Consensus is a rise of 0.4 per cent from October.
8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. PPI Final Demand for October and November.
8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. current account deficit
10 a.m. ET: U.S. existing home sales for December.
10 a.m. ET: U.S. business inventories for October.
2 p.m. ET: U.S. Beige Book is released.
With Reuters and The Canadian Press