Equities<\/p>\n
Global markets were mixed as AI-related earnings announcements prompted wildly different responses, raising the stakes \u200bfor Amazon and Intel results due later in the day.<\/p>\n
Hefty cash \u200cburn<\/a> from Alphabet sent its shares 10 per cent lower in after-hours trading, wiping nearly US$400-billion off its market value. Meanwhile, Microsoft forecast fiscal second-quarter cloud growth and overall sales that beat Wall Street estimates<\/a>, sending shares up more than 5 per cent in after-hours trading.<\/p>\n Wall Street futures turned lower ahead of key economic data.<\/p>\n TSX futures were in positive territory after major North American markets closed up yesterday.<\/p>\n In Canada, investors are getting results from Air Canada, Restaurant Brands International Inc.<\/a>, Teck Resources Ltd.<\/a>, TMX Group Ltd., TFI International Inc., AltaGas Ltd. and Centerra Gold Inc.<\/p>\n Tim Hortons parent Restaurant Brands beat Wall Street estimates for third-quarter comparable sales, as value meals and new menu items drew more diners to its Burger King outlets in the U.S.<\/p>\n On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from Amazon.com Inc., Eli Lilly & Co., Mastercard Inc., Intel Corp., Merck & Co. Inc., Caterpillar Inc., Gilead Sciences Inc. and Starbucks Corp.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reason why Alphabet is down is because \u2060their traditional revenue service of ad generation has been impacted by the very thing which is the \u2060AI boom. So it\u2019s causing a mix of results for Google,\u201d said Jamie Hannah, deputy head of investments at VanEck.<\/p>\n \u201cBoth Alphabet and Microsoft confirmed that the \u200bAI revenue generation is still solid.\u201d<\/p>\n Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.5 per cent in morning trading. Britain\u2019s FTSE 100 rose 0.42 per cent, Germany\u2019s DAX advanced 0.97 per cent and France\u2019s CAC 40 gained 0.96 per cent. <\/p>\n In Asia, Japan\u2019s Nikkei closed 1.1 per cent higher, while Hong Kong\u2019s Hang Seng declined 0.59 per cent. <\/p>\n Commodities<\/p>\n Oil prices fell, paring gains made a day \u200bearlier, as hopes for peace talks took the edge \u200coff renewed concerns over Middle East supply disruptions from the escalating regional conflict.<\/p>\n Brent crude futures dropped 1.28 per cent to US$113.80 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 1.5 per cent to US$101.20.<\/p>\n \u201cSelling pressure is prevailing amid expectations that peace talks may \u200cresume,\u201d said Yuki Takashima, an economist at Nomura Securities. \u201cHowever, the decline remains limited.\u201d<\/p>\n In other commodities, spot gold slid 1.1 per cent to US$4,022.19 an ounce, while U.S. gold futures for December delivery fell 0.4 per cent to US$4,035.00.<\/p>\n Currencies and bonds<\/p>\n The Canadian dollar strengthened against its U.S. counterpart. <\/p>\n The day range on the loonie was 71.41 US cents to 71.59 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was up about 1.74 per cent against the greenback over the past month. It traded at $1.3980 per US$1. <\/p>\n The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, slipped 0.04 per cent to 102.15. <\/p>\n The euro eased 0.04 per cent to US$1.1149. The British pound inched up 0.01 per cent to US$1.3326. <\/p>\n In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last down at 5.010 per cent. <\/p>\n Economic news<\/p>\n Bank of Japan\u2019s monetary policy meeting<\/p>\n