Equities

Global markets were on the rise as traders placed bets on Japanese stimulus and cheered reports suggesting China’s economy was withstanding a U.S. trade war.

Data showed China’s economy grew 1.1 per cent in the third quarter to top forecasts, while industrial output also beat with a rise of 6.5 per cent.

Wall Street futures were in positive territory after U.S. markets closed higher Friday.

TSX futures followed sentiment higher.

In Canada, investors are getting results from PrairieSky Royalty Ltd.

On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from Steel Dynamics Inc. and Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.

Investors were also keeping faith with high-flying artificial intelligence stocks as the Wall Street earnings season gathers momentum, with much riding on the AI titans’ continuing to show blockbuster profit growth.

“I wouldn’t say it’s early innings for big tech but I think there’s still enough scope for healthy returns,” said Arbuthnot Latham global investment strategy director Jason da Silva, adding he was not selling out of the AI theme yet.

Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.61 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 climbed 0.28 per cent, Germany’s DAX gained 1.17 per cent and France’s CAC 40 slipped 0.11 per cent.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 3.37 per cent higher on news the Liberal Democratic Party and the Japan Innovation Party have agreed to form a coalition government, setting the stage for Sanae Takaichi, who is viewed as pro-stimulus, to become prime minister.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 2.42 per cent.

Commodities

 Oil prices dipped, pressed by worries over a global glut as U.S.-China trade tensions added to concerns about an economic slowdown and weaker energy demand.

Brent crude futures were down 0.3 per cent at US$61.11 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures fell or 0.3 per cent to US$57.37.

“Concerns about oversupply from increased production by oil-producing nations, coupled with fears of an economic slowdown stemming from escalating U.S.-China trade tensions, are fueling selling pressure,” said Toshitaka Tazawa, an analyst at Fujitomi Securities.

In other commodities, spot gold was up 0.1 per cent to US$4,254.59 an ounce. U.S. gold futures for December delivery climbed 1.3 per cent to US$4,268.40 an ounce.

Currencies and bonds

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

The day range on the loonie was 71.24 US cents to 71.40 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was down about 1.5 per cent against the greenback over the past month.

The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, edged up 0.03 per cent to 98.47.

The euro gained 0.1 per cent to US$1.1668. The British pound rose 0.07 per cent to US$1.3436.

In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last up at 4.017 per cent.

Other corporate news

Amazon’s cloud services unit AWS was hit by an outage today, causing connectivity issues for many companies around the world and disrupting services for several popular websites and apps including Fortnite and Snapchat.

Economic news

*Note: Scheduled U.S. data reports may not be released if the government shutdown isn’t resolved.

China real GDP, retail sales, industrial production and fixed asset investment

8:30 a.m. ET: Canada’s industrial product and raw materials price indexes for September. Estimates are month-over-month increases of 0.5 per cent for both.

8:30 a.m. ET: Canadian construction investment for August.

8:30 a.m. ET: Canada’s household and mortgage creidt for August.

10:30 a.m. ET: Bank of Canada’s Business Outlook Survey and Survey of Consumer Expectations for Q3 are released.

10 a.m. ET: U.S. leading indicator for September.

With Reuters and The Canadian Press