Equities
Canada’s main stock index edged higher at Monday’s opening bell, buoyed by gains in energy stocks. On Wall Street, key indexes were subdued with economic and interest rate worries remaining at the forefront.
At 9:30 a.m. ET, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was up 31.66 points, or 0.16 per cent, at 19,474.94.
In the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.99 points at the open to 32,921.45. The S&P 500 opened higher by 1.43 points, or 0.04 per cent, at 3,853.79, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 2.03 points, or 0.02 per cent, to 10,707.44 at the opening bell.
Interest rate and economic concerns continue to dominate.
“The reality is that traders do want the Fed to take its foot off the gas paddle and ease its hawkish monetary policy stance,” AvaTrade chief market analyst Naeem Aslam said.
“The fear is that if the Fed doesn’t back off from its current monetary policy, it is bound to push the US economy into a deep recession. These are the very concerns among traders and investors over in Europe as week.”
In this country, investors will get retail sales Tuesday on Tuesday followed by fresh inflation figures on Wednesday and a reading on October GDP on Friday.
“Wednesday’s CPI report will be the highlight of the week, with RBC Economics projecting a slight dip to 6.7 per cent year-over-year,” RBC chief currency strategist Adam Cole said.
“This will mark another drop from the June peak of 8.1 per cent, helped by easing global inflation pressures and a drop in gas prices.”
On the corporate side, BlackBerry releases its latest results after the close of trading on Tuesday.
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.49 per cent by midday. Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.49 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.44 per cent and 0.39 per cent, respectively.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed down 1.05 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slid 0.50 per cent.
Commodities
Crude prices were higher in early going with optimism over China’s reopening helping offset continued concerns about the health of the global economy.
The day range on Brent was US$78.60 to US$80.56 in the early premarket period. The range on West Texas Intermediate was US$73.81 to US$75.69. Prices lost more than $2 a barrel in the Friday session.
“Oil could be in for a rough ride against the backdrop of the COVID surge in Beijing, foreshadowing what is in store for the rest of China,” Stephen Innes, managing partner with SPI Asset Management, said in a note.
“However, with the United States beginning to refill the SPR [strategic petroleum reserves], the price slide should come to a halt; if not, oil bulls could be in for a world of hurt.”
On Friday, the U.S. Energy Department said it would begin repurchasing crude for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve - the first purchases since releasing a record 180 million barrels from the reserve this year, according to Reuters.
In other commodities, gold prices edged higher, helped by a softer U.S. dollar.
Spot gold rose 0.2 per cent to US$1,797.17 per ounce by early Monday morning. U.S. gold futures gained 0.4 per cent to US$1,807.20.
Currencies
The Canadian dollar edged higher, helped by improved risk sentiment, while its U.S. counterpart pulled back against a group of world currencies.
The day range on the loonie was 72.76 US cents to 73.38 US cents in the predawn period.
“The CAD has picked up a little ground to start the week,” Shaun Osborne, chief FX strategist with Scotiabank, said. “The CAD’s high correlation with stocks means risk appetite will drive CAD sentiment over the holiday period, absent any other factors that might emerge.”
Canadian investors get fresh retail sales, inflation and GDP numbers later in the week.
The U.S. dollar index fell 0.19 per cent to 104.61 early Monday.
Britain’s pound rose 0.28 per cent to US$1.21735, after falling 1 per cent last week as investors bet that the Bank of England (BoE) might be getting close to the end of its rate-hike cycle, Reuters reported.
The euro gained 0.19 per cent to US$1.0604.
The Australian dollar was up 0.24 per cent to US$0.6702, while the New Zealand dollar fell 0.11 per cent to US$0.6374.
In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was higher at 3.526 per cent in the predawn period.
More corporate news
A poll by Elon Musk on whether he should quit as Twitter CEO showed the majority of users of the social media platform who took part voted in favour of the move, after the poll ended on Monday. About 57.5 per cent votes were for “Yes,” while 42.5 per cent were against the idea of Musk stepping down as the head of Twitter, according to the poll the billionaire launched on Sunday evening. Over 17.5 million people took part in the vote. -Reuters
Foodtastic Inc. has signed a deal to buy healthy fast food restaurant chain Freshii Inc. for $74.4-million. Foodtastic CEO Peter Mammas says Freshii will help Foodtastic expand into a new category. The Montreal-based restaurant franchisor behind brands like Second Cup, Pita Pit and Milestones also recently announced plans to acquire Quesada Burritos & Tacos. Freshii says the deal will see Foodtastic pay $2.30 per share in cash, representing a total of $74.4-million on a fully diluted basis. -The Canadian Press
Economic news
(8:30 a.m. ET) Canada’s product price and raw materials price indexes for November.
(10 a.m. ET) U.S. NAHB Housing Market Index for December.
With Reuters and The Canadian Press