Equities

Global markets took a breather ahead of a raft of appearances from Federal Reserve officials that traders hope will offer greater clarity on how far and fast U.S. interest rates will drop.

Wall Street futures were mixed after major North American markets closed down yesterday amid valuation concerns. TSX futures pointed higher

In Canada, investors are getting results from BlackBerry Ltd.

On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from Costco Wholesale Corp. and Accenture PLC.

“It must be said that fresh catalysts were lacking across the board, with little by way of impactful news or data-flow to move the needle especially much,” said Michael Brown, a senior research strategist at Pepperstone.

Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.43 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 declined 0.21 per cent, Germany’s DAX dropped 0.54 per cent and France’s CAC 40 fell 0.64 per cent.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.27 per cent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slid 0.13 per cent.

Commodities

Oil prices edged lower as some investors took profits after U.S. stocks closed lower and in anticipation of slower winter demand as well as the return of Kurdish supplies.

Brent futures were down 0.7 per cent to US$68.82 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were down 0.8 per cent to US$64.45 a barrel.

Both benchmarks gained 2.5 per cent yesterday to reach a seven-week high, driven by a surprise drop in U.S. weekly crude inventories and concerns that Ukraine’s attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure could disrupt supplies.

“We have a generally risk-off market,” said Giovanni Staunovo, commodity analyst at UBS. Two consecutive down days for U.S. stocks are putting pressure on oil prices, he added.

In other commodities, spot gold was up 0.1 per cent at US$3,739.22 an ounce. U.S. gold futures for December delivery were steady at US$3,769.60.

Currencies and bonds

The Canadian dollar was little changed against its U.S. counterpart.

The day range on the loonie was 71.92 US cents to 72.03 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was down about 1.07 per cent against the greenback over the past month.

The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, slipped 0.02 per cent to 97.85.

The euro rose 0.03 per cent to US$1.1743. The British pound gained 0.04 per cent to US$1.3452.

In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last down at 4.146 per cent.

Economic news

ECB’s economic bulletin is released

(8:30 a.m. ET) Canada’s payroll survey on the job vacancy rate for July.

(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. initial jobless claims for week of Sept. 20. Estimate is 237,000, up 6,000 from the previous week.

(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. real GDP and price index for Q2. The consensus projections are annualized rate rises of 3.3 per cent and 2.0 per cent, respectively.

(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. goods trade deficit for August.

(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. wholesale and retail inventories for August.

(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. durable and core orders for August. The Street expects month-over-month drops of 0.5 per cent and 0.2 per cent, respectively.

(10 a.m. ET) U.S. existing home sales for August. Estimate is an annualized rate decline of 1.2 per cent.

With Reuters and The Canadian Press