Equities
Global markets slumped with no meaningful signs of a resolution to the Middle East conflict in sight.
Wall Street futures were in the red after major North American markets closed up yesterday.
TSX futures followed sentiment lower.
In Canada, investors are getting results from Teck Resources Ltd.
On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from Intel Corp., American Express Co., SAP, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Union Pacific Corp., Honeywell International Inc., Lockheed Martin Corp. and Newmont Mining Corp.
“Markets look very on edge here. We are still in a no-war, no-peace zone, and that means even an unverified scare of escalation can jolt oil and knock risk assets lower,” said Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo.
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.61 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 dropped 094 per cent, Germany’s DAX declined 0.67 per cent and France’s CAC 40 eased 0.13 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.75 per cent lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.95 per cent.
Commodities
Oil prices extended their gains in the wake of stalled peace talks between Iran and the United States and as both countries maintained restrictions on the flow of trade through the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude futures advanced 1.64 per cent to US$103.60 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 1.67 per cent at US$94.51.
“The oil market is repricing expectations with little sign of progress in finding a resolution in the Persian Gulf,” said ING analysts in a note.
“In addition, Iran’s seizure of two vessels attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz suggests disruptions to shipments are set to continue.”
In other commodities, spot gold was down 0.8 per cent at US$4,699.85 an ounce. U.S. gold futures for June delivery fell 0.8 per cent to US$4,716.20.
Currencies and bonds
The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart.
The day range on the loonie was 73.09 US cents to 73.21 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was up about 1.34 per cent against the greenback over the past month.
The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, climbed 0.18 per cent to 98.77. The U.S. dollar traded at $1.3678.
The euro slid 0.18 per cent to US$1.1684. The British pound was was down 0.04 per cent to US$1.3496.
In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last up at 4.323 per cent.
Economic news
Japan and Euro zone PMI for April.
8:30 a.m. ET: Canada’s industrial product and raw materials price indexes for March. Estimates are month-over-month jumps of 2 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively.
8:30 a.m. ET: Canadian manufacturing sales for March.
8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. initial jobless claims for week of April 18. Estimate is 212,000, up 5,000 from the previous week.
9:45 a.m. ET: U.S. S&P Global PMIs for April.
11 a.m. ET: U.S. Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Activity survey for April.
With Reuters and The Canadian Press