Bouncing back from Friday’s US index declines of 0.9% to 1.4%, US index futures are up 0.5% to 0.7% to start the new trading week. Overseas trading finds the Dax up 0.5%, the FTSE up 0.7% and the Hang Seng up 1.8%. Crude Oil is up 1.4%, Natural Gas is up 3.5% and Copper is up 1.5%.
Stocks are showing resilience despite ongoing reports that President Trump is preparing to launch a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum, continuing his push toward more tariffs and signaling that trade wars did not end with last week’s postponement of tariffs against Canada and Mexico, they are likely just getting started. The US Dollar is up 0.2%-0.3% against the Canadian Dollar and Mexican Peso this morning. Gold is up 1.5% so far today indicating growing investor caution in turbulent times.
Today is quiet for economic news, but there are a number of potentially market moving events in the US this week including Fed Chair Powell testifying to Congress starting tomorrow, US consumer prices on Wednesday, and US retail sales on Friday.
We are now past the peak of earnings season but there are still some notable companies reporting results this week. McDonald’s is up 1.2% premarket after posting in-line earnings and stronger than expected same store sales. Coca-Cola reports tomorrow followed by Cisco Systems on Wednesday. In Canada, Shopify* reports tomorrow morning with other notables this week including Enbridge, Constellation Software, Sun Life and Cenovus.
*Shares of Shopify are held in some portfolios managed by SIA Wealth Management.