Equities
Government bonds steadied on Wednesday after a steep selloff that sent yields to multiyear highs on war-driven inflation fears, a calmer backdrop which helped stocks rise ahead of closely watched results from Nvidia.
Wall Street futures were in positive territory after major U.S. and Canadian stock indexes closed lower on Tuesday.
TSX futures followed sentiment higher.
On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from Analog Devices Inc., Intuit Inc., Lowe’s Companies Inc., Target Corp. and TJX Companies Inc. Expectations remain high for Nvidia earnings, with revenue forecast to jump nearly 80 per cent to about US$79-billion, according to an LSEG survey of analysts.
“It remains my base case that we are seeing a corrective pullback after an absolutely phenomenal rally,” said IG analyst Tony Sycamore. “The U.S. yields obviously are creating some rumbles in the market and now attracting a lot of attention.”
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 rose 0.50 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 increased 0.33 per cent, Germany’s DAX gained 0.33 per cent and France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.54 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 1.23-per-cent lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng finished 0.57-per-cent lower.
Commodities
Oil prices were down after U.S. President Donald Trump again asserted the war with Iran will end “very quickly,” though investors remain wary about the outcome of peace talks amid continued disruptions to Middle Eastern supply.
Brent crude futures fell 2.3 per cent to US$108.70 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures were down 2 per cent at US$102.08.
“Prices are likely to still exhibit some upside potential even if a deal is concluded, given that supply will likely not return to pre-war levels immediately,” said LSEG research analyst Emril Jamil.
In other commodities, spot gold gained 0.3 per cent to US$4,494.50 per ounce. U.S. gold futures for June delivery trimmed earlier losses and were 0.3-per-cent lower at US$4,497.40.
Currencies and bonds
The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart.
The day range on the loonie was 72.56 US cents to 72.78 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was down about 0.60 per cent against the greenback over the past month.
The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, was flat at 99.265. The dollar was pegged at $1.3757.
The euro slid 0.15 per cent to US$1.1602. The British pound rose 0.06 per cent to US$1.3405.
In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last down at 4.643 per cent.
Economic news
Euro zone’s CPI
8:30 a.m. ET: Canada’s household and mortgage credit for March.
2 p.m. ET: U.S. Fed minutes from April 28-29 meetings are released.
With Reuters and The Canadian Press