What every Canadian investor needs to know today

Table of Contents

Equities

Global stocks fell following a bumper U.S. jobs report late last week that prompted investors to question if interest rates will fall at all this year, just as earnings season is about to get under way.

Wall Street’s main indexes opened lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.03 per cent to 41,924.68 before reversing course, the S&P 500 slid 0.77 per cent to 5,782.02, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.35 per cent to 18,903.664 at the bell.

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was down 0.86 per cent at 24,555.78 points at the open, led by losses in technology stocks,.

In Canada, investors are getting results from Cogeco Inc. and Cogeco Communications Inc.

“After a very strong jobs report, we think the cutting cycle is over,” declared Aditya Bhave, deputy chief U.S. economist at BofA. “Inflation is stuck above target, with upside risks.”

“The conversation should move to hikes, which could be in play if [year over year] core PCE exceeds 3 per cent and inflation expectations de-anchor,” he added, referring to the Fed’s favoured personal consumption expenditure measure of prices.

Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.82 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 slid 0.43 per cent, Germany’s DAX gave back 0.62 per cent and France’s CAC 40 retreated 0.58 per cent.

In Asia, Japan’s markets were closed, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1 per cent.

Commodities

Oil prices extended gains for a third session, with Brent rising above US$80 a barrel to its highest in more than four months, driven by wider U.S. sanctions on Russian oil and the expected effects on exports to top buyers India and China.

Brent crude futures climbed 1.9 per cent to US$80.96 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 2.2 per cent to US$78.24.

“There are genuine fears in the market about supply disruption. The worst case scenario for Russian oil is looking like it could be the realistic scenario,” said PVM analyst Tamas Varga. “But it’s unclear what will happen when Donald Trump takes [U.S. presidential] office next Monday.”

In other commodities, spot gold eased 0.5 per cent to US$2,677.13 an ounce. U.S. gold futures shed 0.4 per cent to US$2,704.50.

Currencies and bonds

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

The day range on the loonie was 68.85 US cents to 69.40 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was down about 1.16 per cent against the greenback over the past month.

The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, advanced 0.3 per cent to 109.97.

The euro declined 0.42 per cent to US$1.0212. The British pound fell 0.58 per cent to US$1.2135.

In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last down at 4.766 per cent.

Other corporate news

Mali’s government has begun enforcing a provisional order to seize gold stock at Barrick Gold’s Loulo-Gounkoto site, the Canadian miner said in a note to Malian staff, warning again that it may have to suspend operations at the complex.

AustralianSuper, that country’s largest pension fund, says it has acquired a 50-per-cent stake in an A$1.4-billion (US$859.18-million) portfolio of European warehouses owned by Oxford Properties, the real estate vehicle of Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System.