Global markets were lower in cautious trading as investors assessed a range of corporate results and concerns over AI valuations persisted.
Wall Street futures were mixed, while TSX futures pointed lower after Canada’s main stock market closed up yesterday.
In Canada, investors are getting results from Thomson Reuters Corp., Barrick Mining Corp., BCE Inc., Lightspeed Commerce Inc., Canada Goose Holdings Inc., Saputo Inc., Rogers Sugar Inc. and TMX Group Ltd.
On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from Amazon.com Inc., Shell PLC, ConocoPhillips, KKR & Co. Inc., ArcelorMittal, Open Text Corp. and News Corp.
“At the end of the day, investors have the last word. If they want their Big Tech darlings to slow spending – and they express that feeling by sending stock prices into a freefall – spending will have to slow,” Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, wrote in a note.
“My guess is that if these earnings – and improved analyst expectations – can’t lift sentiment, it will be hard to prevent a broader selloff.”
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.61 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 declined 0.41 per cent, Germany’s DAX slid 0.61 per cent and France’s CAC 40 gave back 0.08 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.88 per cent lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 0.14 per cent.
Commodities
Oil prices fell after the U.S. and Iran agreed to hold talks in Oman tomorrow, easing concerns that a potential military conflict between them could disrupt supplies from the key Middle East producing region.
Brent crude futures dropped 1.89 per cent to US$68.15 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude prices declined 1.90 per cent to trade at US$63.90.
“The oil price has erased part of the geopolitical risk premium on the news of US-Iran talks in Oman on Friday,” said Mukesh Sahdev, CEO of energy consultancy XAnalysts.
In other commodities, spot gold declined 0.9 per cent to US$4,917.61 an ounce. U.S. gold futures for April delivery dropped 0.3 per cent to US$4,936.30 an ounce.
Currencies and bonds
The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart.
The day range on the loonie was 72.99 US cents to 73.21 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was up about 1.21 per cent against the greenback over the past month.
The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, rose 0.26 per cent to 97.87.
The euro slid 0.22 per cent to US$1.1783. The British pound fell 0.67 per cent to US$1.3565.
In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last up at 4.272 per cent.
Economic news
Euro area retail sales and Germany factory orders
Bank of England monetary policy meeting
8:30 a.m. ET: initial jobless claims for previous week
10 a.m. ET: Global supply chain pressure index
11″30 a.m. ET: Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem speaks in Toronto
With Reuters and The Canadian Press