Equities
Global markets were mixed as investors awaited another pivotal earnings report from AI heavyweight Nvidia.
Wall Street futures turned lower after the U.S. Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation came in stronger than expected.
TSX futures edged down.
In Canada, investors are getting results from National Bank of Canada.
As Stefanie Marotta reports, National Bank posted higher third-quarter profit that beat analysts’ expectations as the lender booked stronger performance across personal banking, capital markets and wealth management.
On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from CrowdStrike Holdings Inc., Salesforce Inc. and HP Inc., in addition to Nvidia.
Analysts expect Nvidia to forecast an 82.8-per-cent rise in third-quarter sales to US$104.2-billion. Adjusted gross margin for the second and third quarters is expected to remain around 75 per cent.
“Strong revision to guidance could potentially reinforce expectations surrounding huge AI capital expenditure and potentially whether it has further to run or not. That’s not only likely to benefit Nvidia, but also other chipmakers,” said Fiona Cincotta, a senior markets analyst at City Index.
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.26 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 advanced 0.07 per cent, Germany’s DAX gained 0.46 per cent and France’s CAC 40 rose 0.69 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.62 per cent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.56 per cent.
Commodities
Oil prices fell to a two-week low as talks between Iran and Oman revived hopes that the Strait of Hormuz could reopen and remove shipping constraints affecting supply in the key Middle East region.
Brent crude futures dropped 1.9 per cent to US$86.85 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down or 1.8 per cent at US$80.91.
“It’s renewed focus on the discussion between Iran and Oman regarding a deal for transiting oil and other petrochemicals through the Strait of Hormuz. So that sort of creates some optimism,” said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief analyst, commodities, at SEB Research.
In other commodities, spot gold fell 0.9 per cent to US$4,616.62 an ounce. U.S. gold futures dropped 0.5 per cent to US$4,672.10.
Currencies and bonds
The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart.
The day range on the loonie was 72.04 US cents to 72.30 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was up about 1.25 per cent against the greenback over the past month. It traded at $1.3875 per US$1.
The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, rose 0.2 per cent to 99.11.
The euro slid 0.19 per cent to US$1.1654. The British pound declined 0.32 per cent to US$1.3606.
In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last up at 4.661 per cent.
Economic news
8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. real GDP and GDP price index. The consensus projections are annualized rate increases of 1.5 per cent and 6.2 per cent, respectively.
8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. personal spending and income for July. The Street expects month-over-month gains of 0.1 per cent and 0.2 per cent, respectively.
8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. core PCE price index for July. which came in at an annual rate of 3.7 per cent and rose 0.2 per cent from June. Consensus had been for a monthly increase of 0.2 per cent from June and 3.3 per cent year-over-year.
8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. durable and core goods orders for July. Consensus estimates are increases of 0.5 per cent and 1.0 per cent, respectively.
With Reuters and The Canadian Press