Equities
Global markets were lower with investors hitting the pause button as U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s next cabinet comes into focus and ahead of economic data that could affect interest-rate policies.
Wall Street was steady at the open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.15 per cent to 44,359.21, the S&P 500 gained 0.04 per cent to 6,003.6, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.05 per cent to 19,289.814 at the bell.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index opened 0.59 per cent higher at 24,934.55.
In Canada, investors are getting results from Shopify Inc., Suncor Energy Inc., Power Corp. of Canada, CAE Inc., Finning International Inc., SmartCentres REIT and H&R REIT.
On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from Home Depot Inc., Occidental Petroleum Corp. and Spotify Technology SA.
Analysts also pointed to reports of Trump tapping U.S. Senator Marco Rubio to be his secretary of state, arguably the most hawkish option.
“The market is now worrying that there will be more rapid negative China policy emerging from the Trump administration with his new cabinet picks,” said Steven Leung, executive director of institutional sales at UOB Kay Hian in Hong Kong. “Their hawkishness could be more than expected.”
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was down 1 per cent. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.85 per cent, Germany’s DAX gave back 0.98 per cent and France’s CAC 40 retreated 1.31 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed down 0.4 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng tumbled 2.84 per cent.
Commodities
Oil prices steadied, recovering from a 5-per-cent drop over the previous two sessions, as investors absorbed OPEC’s latest downward revision for oil demand and market’s disappointment over China’s latest stimulus plan.
Brent crude futures rose 0.7 per cent to US$72.33 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 0.7 per cent at US$68.53 a barrel.
“In a flat price environment that is stalled, supply and demand become even more magnified and at present it would appear that oil market participants do not like what they see,” said John Evans, analyst with oil broker PVM.
In other commodities, spot gold fell 1 per cent to US$2,595.49 an ounce, while U.S. gold futures slid 0.7 per cent to US$2,598.90.
Currencies and bonds
The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart.
The day range on the loonie was 71.58 US cents to 71.85 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was down about 1.1 per cent against the greenback over the past month.
The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, advanced 0.25 per cent to 105.81.
The euro dropped 0.31 per cent to US$1.0623. The British pound fell 0.47 per cent to US$1.2808.
In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last up at 4.395 per cent.
Other corporate news
Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon has ordered the Canada Industrial Relations Board to intervene in labour disputes at Canadian ports in a move to impose binding arbitration and resume operations.
The Canada Union of Postal Workers has issued a 72-hour strike notice to Canada Post. In a release this morning, the union says workers will be in a legal strike position as of Friday if negotiated settlements have not been reached.
Shopify beat analysts’ estimates for quarterly revenue as its focus on employing AI-powered tools attracted more merchants to its e-commerce services ahead of the holiday season.
Home Depot has forecast a smaller drop in annual same-store sales, benefiting from resilient demand from professional contractors, as well as a lift from hurricane-related spending.
Economic news
Japan machine tool orders
Germany CPI, which rose to 2.4 per cent in October, confirming preliminary data.
(6 a.m. ET) U.S. NFIB Small Business Economic Trends Survey for October.
(8:30 a.m. ET) Canadian building permits for September. Estimate is a decline of 1.0 per cent from August.
(11 a.m. ET) U.S. New York Fed Survey of Consumer Expectations for October.
(2 p.m. ET) U.S. Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey for October.
With Reuters and The Canadian Press