Luke KawaThe Globe and Mail
The Before the Bell report is updated throughout the premarket to reflect the latest news developments and market moves. Check back later for updates.
U.S. equity futures are in positive territory, though a bevy of economic data and earnings release are sure to cause some swings ahead of the open.
Overnight, the big news came from China, where the moderation in growth to a six-year low serves as cause for concern for all commodity-producing countries.
At 7 per cent, the headline figure for Chinese first quarter growth compared to the same period in 2014 matched the consensus estimate. However, underwhelming retail sales and industrial production data, released in tandem with the GDP report, as well as the drop-off in rail freight and electrical power generation activity serve as notice that the Chinese economy's best days of growth are indeed behind it.
The Shanghai Composite suffered a sizable loss on Wednesday.
"The Hang Seng and Shanghai have both turned negative on the back of the data and it's clear stimulus speculation has spurred equities to outperform economic reality over there," said Stan Shamu, IG market strategist.
The European Central Bank made no alterations to policy, as was expected. European stocks are generally higher on the day.
West Texas Intermediate oil futures continue to catch a bid after the United States' Energy Information Administration projected that shale output south of the border would fall in May, on a monthly basis. Last week's storage and production figures will be released at 10:30am ET.
S&P/TSX 60 futures are also higher.
Canadians await the central bank's latest rate statement, due out at 10 am ET. No change to policy is expected; however, the outlook for growth in the first quarter is all but certain to be downgraded, with upward revisions to the present and possibly coming quarters. The timing and magnitude of those upward revisions will give investors an opportunity to benchmark where the Bank of Canada sees the economy going, and compare that to the data flow in the coming months.
February's manufacturing sales, which tumbled in the previous reading, posted another large decline, weighing on the loonie.
As such, the loonie and short-term Canadian bonds are likely to be active today.
Here's a look at the latest market numbers and other highlights ahead of the trading day.
Futures:
S&P 500 +0.22 per cent; Dow +0.24 per cent; Nasdaq +0.21 per cent
Equities:
Hong Kong's Hang Seng +0.2 per cent
Shanghai composite index -1.24 per cent
Japan's Nikkei -0.2 per cent
London's FTSE 100 +0.31 per cent
Germany's DAX +0.5 per cent
France's CAC 40 +0.69 per cent
Stoxx 600 +0.71 per cent
Commodities:
WTI crude oil (Nymex May) +1.01 per cent at $53.83 (U.S.) a barrel
Natural gas (Nymex May) +1.03 per cent at $2.556
Gold (Comex Jun) -0.13 per cent at $1,191.10 (U.S.) an ounce
Copper (Comex May) -0.46 per cent at $2.688 (U.S.) a pound
Currencies:
Canadian dollar at 79.76 (U.S.), down 0.0034
U.S. dollar index up 0.401 at 99.134
Bonds:
U.S. 10-year Treasury yield 1.9054 per cent, up 0.0069
ECONOMIC INDICATORS:
Canada manufacturing sales for March fell 1.7 per cent, defying expectations for a 0.1 per cent increase.
(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. Empire State manufacturing survey for April fell to -1.19 from 6.9. Economists were expecting a small increase.
(9 a.m. ET) Canada existing home sales for March, estimated to increase 7 per cent year over year, and average home prices, estimated to increase 8 per cent year over year.
(9 a.m. ET) Canada MLS home price index for March. Estimated to increase 5 per cent year over year.
(9:15 a.m. ET) U.S. industrial production for March. Consensus is a decrease of 0.3 per cent from previous month. Plus., capacity utilization with a consensus of 78.6 per cent, a decline of 0.2 per cent from February
(10 a.m. ET) Bank of Canada policy announcement and monetary policy report
(10 a.m. ER) U.S. NAHB housing market index for April. Estimated to be 55, an increase of 2 from March.
(10:30 a.m. ET) U.S. EIA petroleum status report
(11:15 a.m. ET) Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz holds press conference on MPR
(2 p.m. ET) U.S. Beige Book is released
(4 p.m. ET) U.S. treasury international capital for February
STOCKS TO WATCH:
Bank of America Corp. reported first-quarter earnings of $0.36, 7 cents higher than the consensus estimate. The bank did not increase its dividend as some analysts had hoped, but is likely to buy back a significant amount of stock this year.
The European Union has sent a complaint to Google Inc. questioning competitive practices related to its search engine and Android operating system.
Shares of Intel Corp. are rising in the premarket session after the firm boosted its second-quarter sales projection to a level in-line with the consensus estimate. In the first quarter, Intel reported a slight increase in profits relative to the same period in 2014.
Fairfax Financial Holdings plans to sell nearly 30 per cent of Brit Plc to OMERS. Fairfax announced the deal to buy Brit Plc in mid-February.
Ballard Power Systems announced that is has received an order from a Chinese customer to supply power modules for eight buses, part of the government's attempt to expand public transit clean energy vehicles.
National Bank will hold its annual general meeting today.
Earnings include: Bank of America Corp.; Charles Schwab Corp.; Delta Air Lines Inc.; Kinder Morgan Inc; Netflix Inc.; PNC Financial Services Group Inc.; Progressive Corp.; SanDisk Corp.; U.S. Bancorp; Watsco Inc.
ANALYST ACTIONS:
Laurentian Bank resumed coverage of Detour Gold Corp. with a "buy" rating and price target of $16.40.
GoPro Inc. as upgraded to "overweight" from "neutral" at Piper Jaffray.
Intel Corp. was raised to "outperform" from "sector perform" at RBC.
Vale SA was lowered to "neutral" from "overweight" at JPMorgan.