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Before the Bell will pause next week for the holiday break and resume on Thursday, Jan. 2. |
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Global markets sank ahead of a possible U.S. government shutdown as investors awaited key U.S. inflation data that could either ease or worsen concerns about stubbornly high price pressures. |
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Jitters pushed Wall Street futures into negative territory. |
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TSX futures followed sentiment lower with Canada’s main stock index on its longest losing streak in 14 months, with all 10 major sectors closing lower yesterday. |
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“With [U.S. president-elect Donald] Trump back in the mix there’s every chance we see that [political impasse] extend past the weekend, and possibly even a shutdown, so that will dominate the focus,” Eren Osman, managing director of wealth management at Arbuthnot Latham, said. |
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“I wouldn’t be going on holiday leaving any big open bets on right now - there’s definitely a propensity for some pretty wild swings in markets.” |
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Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was down 1.86 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.92 per cent, Germany’s DAX gave back 1.16 per cent and France’s CAC 40 retreated 1.09 per cent. |
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In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.29 per cent lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 0.16 per cent. |
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Oil prices fell on worries about demand growth in 2025, especially in top crude importer China, putting global oil benchmarks on track to end the week down nearly 3 per cent. |
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Brent crude futures dropped 0.45 per cent to US$72.55 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures eased 0.46 per cent to US$69.06 a barrel. |
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“Benchmark crude prices are in a prolonged consolidation phase as the market heads towards the year-end weighed by uncertainty in oil demand growth,” said Emril Jamil, senior research specialist at LSEG. |
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In other commodities, spot gold was up 0.5 per cent at US$2,605.41 an ounce, while U.S. gold futures were 0.4 per cent higher at US$2,619.40. |
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The Canadian dollar strengthened against its U.S. counterpart. |
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The day range on the loonie was 69.26 US cents to 69.59 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was down about 2.9 per cent against the greenback over the past month. |
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The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, slid 0.24 per cent to 108.15. |
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The euro rose 0.18 per cent to US$1.0381. The British pound slipped 0.03 per cent to US$1.2497. |
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In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last down at 4.541 per cent ahead of the North American opening bell. |
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Euro zone consumer confidence |
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(8:30 a.m. ET) Canadian retail sales for October. Consensus is an increase of 0.7 per cent from September. |
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(8:30 a.m. ET) Canadian wholesale trade for November. |
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(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. personal spending and income for November. The Street is projecting month-over-month rises of 0.5 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively. |
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(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. core PCE price index for November. Consensus is a gain of 0.2 per cent from October and 2.9 per cent from the same period a year ago. |
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(10 a.m. ET) U.S. University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for December. |
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With Reuters and The Canadian Press |
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