Colin Cieszynski
The Before the Bell report is compiled by editors of The Globe and Mail and is updated throughout the morning to reflect latest developments. Colin Cieszynski, Chartered Financial Analyst and Chartered Market Technician, is chief market strategist with CMC Markets.
Stock markets around the world have been playing catch up overnight, with the positive response to Friday's U.S. nonfarm payrolls carrying through to overseas markets, which in turn is providing a positive backdrop to trading here in North America ahead of the opening bell.
Asia Pacific markets were flat with China closed for a holiday. European indexes are climbing this morning, with the FTSE up 0.5 per cent and the Dax up 1.0 per cent. U.S. index futures for the Dow and S&P 500 are up about 0.2 per cent in early morning trading.
The Street continues to view Friday's nonfarm payrolls growth of 215,000 and manufacturing PMI climbing from 49.5 back into expansion territory near 51.8 as "goldilocks" reports. In other words, reports that show the U.S. economy growing not too strong - which could force the Fed to raise interest rates soon - and not too weak - which would raise questions about corporate earnings prospects.
Meanwhile, crude oil is stabilizing today, with West Texas intermediate steady near $36.50 and Brent steady near $38.50. Natural gas is trading higher following a cold weekend and snow in some key consuming regions of North America. Winter is still dragging on, but with heating oil not confirming with gains of its own, the advance could fade as the late snows melt.
Currency trading today finds the U.S. dollar trading up slightly against major peers. The biggest action overnight has been in the Australian dollar, which has been falling after Australian retail sales came in soft. There's also a Reserve Bank of Australia meeting tonight. While the central bank is expected to stay the course on interest rates, it could launch another round of verbal attacks against the dollar, which despite overnight weakness, had posted significant gains over the last month. Other resource currencies like the Canadian dollar have also been looking a bit tired lately. Among resource currencies, the Australian dollar may be more active to start the week, but over the next few days the focus may shift to the Canadian dollar, with Ivey PMI and Canada employment data due later in the week.
Now, here is a closer look at key market data, and corporate and economic news.
MARKET DATA: (as of 715 a.m. ET)
Futures
Dow +0.18 per cent; S&P 500 +0.28 per cent; Nasdaq: +0.24 per cent; TSX 60 +0.3 per cent
Equities
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Closed for holiday
Shanghai composite index Closed for holiday
Japan's Nikkei 225 -0.25 per cent
Germany's DAX +1.02 per cent
London's FTSE +0.77 per cent
France's CAC 40 +1.07 per cent
Commodities
WTI crude oil (Nymex May) -0.05 per cent at $36.73 (U.S.) a barrel
Gold (Comex June) -0.43 per cent at $1,218.30 (U.S.) an ounce
Copper (Comex May) -0.14 per cent at $2.16 (U.S.) a pound
Currencies
Canadian dollar -0.0017 at 76.58 cents (U.S.)
U.S. dollar index +0.199 at 94.818
Bonds
U.S. 10-year Treasury yield +0.0061 at 1.78 per cent
KEY ECONOMIC RELEASES
(10 a.m. ET) Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz and senior deputy governor Carolyn Wilkins speak at Roberta Bondar Public School in Ottawa
(10 a.m. ET) U.S. factory orders for February. Consensus is a decline of 1.7 per cent from previous month.
KEY CORPORATE NEWS
Shares of Virgin America surged 36 per cent to $52.75 in premarket trading, after the company agreed to be bought by Alaska Air for about $2.60 billion. Alaska Air shares were down 2.5 per cent at $79.94.
Tesla rose 4.8 per cent to $248.99 after the electric carmaker said orders for its new Model 3 sedan rose than 253,000 in the first 36 hours.
Edwards Lifesciences rose 7.9 per cent to $89.92 after a study showed a less-invasive implant of a heart valve was superior to open surgery, prompting a slew of brokerages to raise their ratings on the stock.
U.S. homebuilder PulteGroup Inc said on Monday that Chief Executive Richard Dugas would retire effective May 2017, bowing to a demand from founder and Chairman Emeritus Bill Pulte. Dugas's decision to retire is due in part to the actions of Pulte, who has demanded an immediate CEO change and is seeking a "different direction" for the company, PulteGroup said.
Earnings include: Hudson's Bay Co.; NovaGold Resources Inc.; Steris PLC.
With files from wire services