Equities
Global markets were mixed after Iran said it was nearing a final pact with Oman defining new shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz, and as markets awaited key U.S. inflation data on Wednesday.
Wall Street futures were in negative territory, while TSX futures pointed lower after Canada’s main stock market closed at a fresh record high on Friday.
In Canada, investors are getting results from Barrick Mining Corp., AGT Food and Ingredients Inc., Cargojet Inc., CT REIT, K92 Mining Inc. and Silvercorp Metals Inc.
Barrick and Newmont Corp. have reached an agreement to bring Fourmile and other properties that weren’t previously part of their Nevada Gold Mines (NGM) joint venture into the accord, Niall McGee reports.
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan reported a 9.5-per-cent return in the first half of the year, James Bradshaw reports, boosted by a stake in Elon Musk’s Space that soared in value after the company went public and was briefly worth US$8.7-billion.
“We are keeping our view of no hikes from the Fed for this year,” said Mohit Kumar, a senior European economist at Jefferies. “Key would be this week’s inflation report.”
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.22 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 slid 0.24 per cent, Germany’s DAX rose 0.26 per cent and France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.11 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 2.08 per cent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.05 per cent.
Commodities
Oil prices climbed as optimism over talks to reopen the Strait of Hormuz was tempered by Iran’s insistence that the United States must satisfy several demands before the waterway could reopen.
Brent crude futures stood at US$84.53 a barrel, up 1.17 per cent. West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained 1.24 per cent to US$79.15. Both benchmarks fell more than 7 per cent last week on hopes that Iran and Oman were close to reaching a deal that would result in a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz
“Any major progress towards restoring unrestricted shipping could exert downward pressure on oil prices, while a breakdown in negotiations or renewed supply disruptions could quickly revive the geopolitical risk premium,” said Sugandha Sachdeva, founder of SS WealthStreet, a New Delhi-based research firm.
In other commodities, spot gold was down 0.2 per cent to US$4,332.68 an ounce. U.S. gold futures fell 0.2 per cent to US$4,391.60.
Currencies and bonds
The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart.
The day range on the loonie was 71.59 US cents to 71.77 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was up about 1.49 per cent against the greenback over the past month.
The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, rose 0.18 per cent to 99.72. The dollar was pegged at $1.3950.
The euro declined 0.1 per cent to US$1.1549. The British pound was little changed at US$1.3493.
In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last up at 4.674 per cent.
Economic news
China CPI, PPI, aggregate yuan financing and new yuan loans
Japan bank lending
With Reuters and The Canadian Press