Equities
World stocks were at all-time highs as nerves around AI disruption faded fade.
Nasdaq, S&P 500 and Dow Jones futures were all little changed, after markets ended higher on Wednesday, as traders continued to digest Nvidia’s numbers. The world’s most valuable company guided its first-quarter revenues would come in at a whopping US$78-billion on Big Tech’s unabated spending on its AI processors.
TSX futures followed sentiment lower a day after Canada’s main stock index rose to a record high.
In Canada, investors are seeing earnings from the last of the Big Banks, with earnings from Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Royal Bank of Canada, and Toronto-Dominion Bank. Investors are also getting results from Atco Ltd., Canadian Utilities Ltd., Chartwell Retirement Residences, Denison Mines Corp., Gildan Activewear Inc., Quebecor Inc., and Stella-Jones Inc.
On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from Dell Technologies Inc.
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 rose 0.17 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 advanced 0.15 per cent, Germany’s DAX gained 0.46 per cent and France’s CAC 40 was up 0.79 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.29 per cent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended 1.44 per cent lower.
Commodities
Oil prices fell on after the biggest jump in U.S. crude inventories in three years, with signs of weakness in the physical oil market also weighing on prices, while traders assessed U.S.-Iran talks.
Brent crude futures were down 1.3 per cent, at US$69.90 a barrel. WTI futures lost 1.6 per cent, to US$64.36.
In other commodities, spot gold was up 0.1 per cent at US$5,174.07 per ounce. U.S. gold futures for April delivery were down 0.7 per cent at US$5,190.30.
Currencies and bonds
The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart.
The day range on the loonie was 73.02 US cents to 73.21 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was down about 1.46 per cent against the greenback over the past month.
The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, rose 0.07 per cent to 97.66.
The euro fell 0.18 per cent to US$1.1810. The British pound fell 0.13 per cent to US$1.3542.
In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last down at 4.048 per cent.
Economic news
Japan’s machine tool orders
Euro zone economic and consumer confidence
6 a.m. ET: U.S. Conference Board CEO Confidence Index for Q4.
8:30 a.m. ET: Canada’s current account balance for Q4.
8:30 a.m. ET: Canada’s Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours for December.
8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. initial jobless claims for week of Feb. 21.
With Reuters and The Canadian Press