Before the Bell: What every Canadian investor needs to know today

Equities

Oil prices surged and shares slid as military conflict in the Middle East looked set to last for weeks, threatening to upend a global economic recovery and perhaps reignite inflation.

Wall Street futures declined after all three major indexes ended decisively lower on Friday. Dow futures were down 1.01 per cent, S&P 500 down 0.97 per cent, and Nasdaq futures down 1.23 per cent as of 8:35 a.m. ET.

TSX futures slid 0.47 per cent, as of 5:45 a.m., after Canada’s main stock index ended Friday’s session in the red.

In Canada, investors are getting results from Capstone Mining Corp., InterRent REIT, K92 Mining Inc., and Wajax Corp.

On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from MongoDB.

Live Now: North American stock futures slide as Middle East conflict escalates

Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was down 1.98 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 lost 1.62 per cent, Germany’s DAX fell 2.75 per cent and France’s CAC 40 gave back 2.29 per cent.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 1.35 per cent lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 2.14 per cent.

Commodities

Oil and natural gas prices surged as Israeli and U.S. strikes on Iran and retaliation by Tehran forced shutdowns of oil and gas facilities across the Middle East and disrupted shipping in the crucial Strait of Hormuz.

Brent crude futures rose as much as 13 per cent to US$82.37 a barrel, their highest since January, 2025, before retreating to trade up US$5.56, or 7.6 per cent, at US$78.43 a barrel.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude climbed to an intraday high of US$75.33, up more than 12 per cent and its highest since June, though it later pared gains and was up US$4.80, or 7.2 per cent, at US$71.82.

“At least in the short term, the disruption to global energy supply is substantial, (and) this clearly adds upside risks to the oil price,” said Michael Langham, emerging markets economist at Aberdeen Investments.

In other commodities, spot gold gained 2.1 per cent to US$5,390.38 an ounce, after hitting a more than four-week high earlier in the session. U.S. gold futures rose 3 per cent to US$5,406.30 per ounce.

Currencies and bonds

The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart.

The day range on the loonie was 73.04 US cents to 73.35 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was up about 0.13 per cent against the greenback over the past month.

The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, advanced 0.89 per cent to 98.435.

The euro fell 0.94 per cent to US$1.1705. The British pound declined 0.67 per cent to US$1.3394.

In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last up at 4.015 per cent.

Economic news

Japan and Euro zone’s manufacturing PMI

Germany’s retail sales

9 a.m.: Bank of Canada Deputy Governor Sharon Kozicki speaks in Oslo, Norway

9:30 a.m. ET: Canada’s S&P Global Manufacturing PMI for February.

9:45 a.m. ET: U.S. S&P Global Manufacturing PMI for February.

10 a.m. ET: U.S. ISM Manufacturing PMI for February.

Also: Canadian and U.S. auto sales for February.

With Reuters and The Canadian Press