Equities
Global markets were mostly lower, weighed down by technology stocks following quarterly results from U.S. giant Alphabet, while markets assessed developments in the Middle East conflict.
Wall Street futures were in negative territory ahead of another heavy corporate earnings day.
TSX futures followed sentiment lower after Canada’s main stock market hit a fresh record high yesterday.
In Canada, investors are getting results from Teck Resources Ltd. and Ovintiv Inc.
Teck beat Wall Street estimates for second-quarter profit, helped by higher copper prices and increased production.
On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from Intel Corp., RTX Corp., T-Mobile US Inc., Union Pacific Corp., Newmont Corp., Blackstone Inc., Norfolk Southern Corp., Freeport-McMoran Inc., American Airlines Group Inc., FirstService Corp., Honeywell International Inc. and Lockheed Martin Corp.
Alphabet has increased its capital spending plans for 2026 by US$15-billion, adding to doubts whether the AI investments materialize into returns and sending its stock down more than 4 per cent in premarket trading.
“The knee-jerk reaction to Alphabet’s earnings sets the tone for the upcoming Big Tech results: investors are increasingly focused on the mounting cost of AI ambitions rather than revenue beats,” Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, wrote in a note.
“They don’t want more spending, even if that spending boosts revenue and helps prevent a company like Alphabet from falling behind in the AI race.”
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was down 1.19 per cent. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.96 per cent, Germany’s DAX declined 1.2 per cent and France’s CAC 40 gave back 1.56 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.46 per cent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.28 per cent.
Commodities
Oil prices hit their highest in more than a month, rising for a fifth day after Yemen’s Houthis said they struck two Saudi oil tankers, raising fears that disruption to global oil supplies could spread beyond the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude futures were up 4.9 per cent to US$98.66 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude climbed 4.4 per cent to US$90.68.
“The immediate outlook for crude oil remains supportive as markets price a worrying probability of supply interruptions in a second chokepoint,” said Pepperstone research strategist Ahmad Assiri.
In other commodities, spot gold dropped 1 per cent to US$4,087.90 an ounce. U.S. gold futures for August delivery fell 1.5 per cent to US$4,091.20.
Currencies and bonds
The Canadian dollar was little changed against its U.S. counterpart.
The day range on the loonie was 70.95 US cents to 71.14 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was up about 0.87 per cent against the greenback over the past month.
The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, rose 0.24 per cent to 101.37. The dollar was pegged at $1.4086.
The euro slid 0.32 per cent to US$1.1375. The British pound declined 0.32 per cent to US$1.3331.
In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last up at 4.711 per cent.
Economic news
7 a.m. ET: CFIB Business Barometer
8:15 a.m. ET: ECB monetary policy announcement. The European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged amid uncertainty about how volatile energy prices will affect inflation.
8:30 a.m. ET: Canadian retail sales for May, which rose 1 per cent - in line with expectations - as sales at gasoline stations and fuel vendors posted the largest increase for the month, boosted by higher prices.
8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. weekly initial jobless claims, which fell sharply, indicating the job market continues on an even keel and leaving Federal Reserve officials to keep their focus on containing inflation. Claims dropped by 22,000 to a seasonally adjusted 187,000, compared with forecasts of 212,000.
Euro area consumer confidence survey
With Reuters and The Canadian Press