Equities
Global markets tumbled as investors fled risk assets after U.S. President Donald Trump said the memorandum of understanding signed with Iran to end the Gulf conflict was “over.”
Trump, who was speaking in Ankara ahead of a NATO summit in the Turkish capital, added that he did not want to engage with Tehran. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s just a waste of time dealing with them,” he said.
Wall Street futures were in the red after major U.S. markets closed down yesterday.
TSX futures followed sentiment lower despite the rally in oil prices.
On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from Levi Strauss & Co.
“It’s clearly not what the markets wanted and it really weighs heavily on sentiment,” said Chris Beauchamp, chief market strategist at IG.
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was down 1.22 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.94 per cent, Germany’s DAX fell 1.74 per cent and France’s CAC 40 retreated 2.01 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 2.11 per cent lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was the outlier, rising 2.99 per cent as beaten-down tech shares drew dip-buyers back from global peers.
Commodities
Oil prices jumped after Trump’s comments on Iran, renewing fears of disruptions to Middle East oil supplies.
Brent crude futures gained 5.6 per cent to US$78.33 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 5.4 per cent to US$74.25 a barrel.
Both rose about 3 per cent yesterday after the U.S. revoked the general licence authorizing the sale of Iranian crude.
“The latest developments have effectively thrown the future of the 60-day negotiation process into doubt,” said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB.
“In my view, a price closer to US$80 a barrel is more consistent with current market fundamentals than US$70,” he added.
In other commodities, spot gold fell 1.1 per cent to US$4,061.32 an ounce. U.S. gold futures for August delivery shed nearly 2 per cent to trade at US$4,074.20.
Currencies and bonds
The Canadian dollar strengthened against its U.S. counterpart.
The day range on the loonie was 70.30 US cents to 70.65 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was down about 1.66 per cent against the greenback over the past month.
The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, rose 0.14 per cent to 101.17. The dollar was pegged at $1.4184.
The euro eased 0.05 per cent to US$1.1407. The British pound dropped 0.05 per cent to US$1.3352.
In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last up at 4.571 per cent.
Other corporate news
Air Canada has named Scandinavian Airlines head Anko Van der Werff as its next chief executive.
Economic news
Japan’s bank lending and trade deficit
10 a.m. ET: U.S. wholesale inventories for May.
2 p.m. ET: U.S. Fed minutes from June 16-17 meeting are released.
3 p.m. ET: U.S. consumer credit for May.
With Reuters and The Canadian Press