It has been a constructive morning so far for North American stocks. US index futures are up 0.2% to 0.4%, while TSX futures are up marginally. The US 10-year treasury note yield has stabilized near 4.20%. Trading is quiet in Europe this morning, the FTSE is flat while the Dax is up 0.1%.
Nothing notable came out of the BRICS Summit this week, so we are seeing metals, which had run up ahead of time, now dropping back. Gold is down 0.4%, Silver is down 0.9% and Platinum is down 1.2% in precious metal action, while Copper is down 0.4%. US Crude Oil is up 1.0% today.
This week’s economic news has generally been positive. Yesterday, US Flash Manufacturing PMI, US Flash Service PMI, US jobless claims and US new home sales all beat expectations. This morning, US durable goods orders were not as bad as had been feared (-0.8% vs street -1.0%). Canada retail sales (0.4% vs street 0.5%) and particularly retail sales excluding autos (-0.7% vs street +0.3%) were worse than expected, justifying the Bank of Canada’s decision to make a larger 0.5% interest rate cut earlier this week.
It’s quiet today on the earnings front but next week is Big Week for earnings, headlined by Big Tech and Big Oil. Five of the Magnificent Seven stocks (Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta Platforms and Microsoft), are among the top names set to report results.