Equities
Global markets were muted as investors looked beyond concerns about the U.S. Justice Department’s investigation of Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell to focus on U.S. inflation data and corporate earnings.
Wall Street futures were in negative territory after the Dow and S&P 500 closed at record highs yesterday.
TSX futures were flat after Canada’s main stock market also posted a fresh high yesterday.
On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of New York Mellon Corp. and Delta Air Lines Inc.
“Today, the U.S. releases its latest CPI data, while big banks kick off earnings season, with JPMorgan reporting Q4 results – just a day after [U.S. President Donald] Trump suggested credit-card interest rates should be capped at 10 per cent, a comment that sent related stocks sharply lower,” Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, wrote in a note.
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.22 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 edged down 0.04 per cent, Germany’s DAX declined 0.17 per cent and France’s CAC 40 gave back 0.56 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei returned from holiday with a jump of 3.1 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed 0.9 per cent higher.
Commodities
Oil prices extended gains as heightened concerns regarding Iran and potential supply disruptions outweighed the prospect of increased crude supply from Venezuela.
Brent futures rose 1.7 per cent to US$64.93 a barrel, hovering near a two-month high. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude climbed 1.7 per cent to US$60.52.
“The oil market is building in some price protection against geopolitical drivers,” said PVM Oil Associates analyst John Evans, highlighting the potential exclusion of Iran’s exports, trouble around Venezuela, and talks about the Russia-Ukraine war as well as over Greenland.
In other commodities, spot gold traded 0.1 per cent lower at US$4,588.43 an ounce, following a record high of US$4,629.94 in the previous session. U.S. gold futures for February delivery slipped 0.4 per cent to US$4,597.50.
Currencies and bonds
The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart.
The day range on the loonie was 71.99 US cents to 72.11 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was down about 0.94 per cent against the greenback over the past month.
The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, rose 0.09 per cent to 98.96.
The euro climbed 0.03 per cent to US$1.1670. The British pound increased 0.07 per cent to US$1.3473.
In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last up at 4.198 per cent.
Economic news
China trade surplus
Japan bank lending
8:30 a.m. ET: Canadian building permits for November. The analyst estimate is a decline of 5.0 per cent from October.
8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. CPI for December. The Street is projecting a rise of 0.3 per cent from November and 2.7 per cent year-over-year.
10 a.m. ET: U.S. new home sales for September and October.
2 p.m. ET: U.S. budget balance for December.
With Reuters and The Canadian Press
