Equities
Global markets steadied after heavy selling in the previous session when investors dumped tech shares as questions about cloud company CoreWeave’s debt pile fuelled worries about the financing driving the AI boom.
Wall Street futures were in positive territory after major North American markets closed up yesterday.
TSX futures followed sentiment higher.
In Canada, investors are getting results from A&W Food Services of Canada Inc.
On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from Travelers Cos. Inc., Truist Financial Corp. and M&T Bank Corp.
“Global markets are getting very noisy once again after a period of low volatility: Wall Street is whipsawing, bond yields are swinging, currency markets are doing backflips, and commodity prices are running in multiple directions,” Kyle Rodda, a markets analyst at Capital.com, wrote in a client note.
“Global markets could potentially be in for a protracted period of this sort of volatility,” he added, with tech companies due to annnounce earnings in coming weeks, and markets also attempting to gauge the trajectory of key interest rates.
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.55 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 edged down 0.03 per cent, Germany’s DAX rose 0.97 per cent and France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.17 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 1.39 per cent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.52 per cent.
Commodities
Oil prices eased on uncertainty over Middle East supplies and a larger-than-expected draw from U.S. crude stockpiles, while European diesel margins dropped following the IEA’s decision to release more diesel.
Brent crude futures were down 0.8 per cent at US$105.00 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures declined 1.04 per cent to US$96.96.
“Uncertainty in the Middle East and concerns over the sustainability of oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz has the market pricing in a significant risk premium,” ING analysts wrote in a note.
In other commodities, spot gold rose 0.3 per cent to US$4,184.34 an ounce. U.S. gold futures for December delivery climbed 0.9 per cent to US$4,205.70.
Currencies and bonds
The Canadian dollar strengthened against its U.S. counterpart.
The day range on the loonie was 70.42 US cents to 70.61 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was down about 1.28 per cent against the greenback over the past month. It traded at $1.4165 per US$1.
The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, slid 0.75 per cent to 101.78.
The euro climbed 0.2 per cent to US$1.1245. The British pound gained 0.35 per cent to US$1.3322.
In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last up at 5.102 per cent.
Economic news
Euro area consumer price index for September.
12:15 a.m. ET: Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem joins IMF panel on AI and global economy in Bangkok.
5 a.m. ET: Canadian existing home sales for September, average prices and the MLS home price index, which is expected to be down 3 per cent from a year ago.
8:15 a.m. ET: Canadian housing starts for September. They are expected to edge up 0.4 per cent.
8:30 a.m. ET: Canadian international securities transactions.
8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. import prices for September
9:15 a.m. ET: U.S. industrial production for September.
With Reuters and The Canadian Press