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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.

Some troubling trends that came out of Alcoa's first-quarter results late Monday - which marked the unofficial start to the earnings season - haven't deterred the bulls for very long, with most global stock indexes rebounding this morning. Canadian and U.S. stock futures are up about 0.3 per cent, pointing to a positive start to trading on both Bay Street and Wall Street.

The aluminum producer beat the Street on earnings, but sales were disappointing and the company cut its guidance for 2016 world aluminium demand to 5 per cent from 6 per cent, driven by lower demand forecasts for aerospace, trucking and other sectors. Shares are down about 4 per cent in the premarket this morning.

A better-than-expected business conditions report combined with rising oil and copper prices propelled Australian stocks to a 1 per cent gain overnight, which suggests that Canadian energy producers and miners could catch a tailwind today despite Alcoa. This action also suggests that some of Alcoa's troubles may still be related to the higher U.S. dollar. Even though the greenback has started to retreat, it may take a couple of quarters before the positive impact of a lower U.S. dollar is seen at export-oriented U.S. companies.

Rising crude oil prices this morning suggest that the Street may be looking for a repeat of last week's American Petroleum Institute and Department of Energy inventory declines heading into the Doha producers meeting on the weekend, where a production freeze is expected to be confirmed. Those two inventory reports are due this afternoon and on Wednesday, respectively.

Rising copper, meanwhile, suggests improving sentiment toward China's economy heading toward this week's big China trade, GDP and retail sales reports.

In currency action today, the British pound is the class of the field once again, rallying against both U.S. dollar and euro. Rising inflation in the U.K. announced this morning suggests that the Bank of England may come under increased pressure to raise interest rates following the Brexit referendum in June.

More inflation reports are ahead, with U.S. import prices due this morning, but the main focus may be on another parade of Fed speakers through the day. Last night, Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan, a non-voter this year, indicated he's not in favour of an April rate hike but sees June as possible. I suspect this is a common opinion at the Fed currently.

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 +0.25 per cent; S&P 500 +0.36 per cent; Nasdaq: +0.38 per cent; TSX 60 +0.4 per cent

Equities
Japan's Nikkei 225 +1.13 per cent
Shanghai composite index -0.31 per cent
Hong Kong's Hang Seng +0.31 per cent
Germany's DAX +0.41 per cent
London's FTSE +0.02 per cent
France's CAC 40 +0.20 per cent

Commodities
WTI crude oil (Nymex May) +0.69 per cent at $40.64 (U.S.) a barrel
Gold (Comex June) +0.06 per cent  at $1,258.70 (U.S.) an ounce
Copper (Comex May) +0.69 per cent at $2.105 (U.S.) a pound

Currencies
Canadian dollar +0.0021 at 77.72 cents (U.S.)
U.S. dollar index -0.086 at 93.864

Bonds
U.S. 10-year Treasury yield +0.03 at 1.76 per cent

KEY ECONOMIC RELEASES

U.S. import prices rose 0.2 per cent in March vs. a 1.0 per cent increase expected by the Street.

KEY STOCKS TO WATCH

Aluminum producer Alcoa beat the Street on earnings, but sales were disappointing and the company cut its guidance for 2016 world aluminium demand to 5 per cent from 6 per cent, driven by lower demand forecasts for aerospace, trucking and other sectors. Shares are down about 4 per cent in the premarket this morning.

Enbridge Income Fund Holdings Inc. is issuing $500-million of shares, extending a multibillion-dollar financing rush in the energy sector since the start of the year, the company announced after markets closed on Monday. Enbridge Income Fund, which runs Enbridge's crude oil mainline system and its Alberta oil sands pipeline system, said it plans to sell 17.7 million shares at $28.25 each to underwriters in a bought deal. The syndicate has the option to purchase another 2.7 million shares to cover any overallotments.

Loblaw is planning to build dozens of new stores and renovate more than 100 others this year, creating thousands of retail and construction jobs. Loblaw says that overall, it will erect about 50 new stores and renovate 150 existing ones, including projects that started in January. The stores will include both grocery stores of various banners as well as Shoppers Drug Mart locations.

Southwest Airlines has ordered five CAE full-flight simulators for training crews to fly Boeing 737 passenger jets. The order by the Dallas-based airline was the largest of several announced Tuesday by CAE, a Montreal-based company that provides a variety of training services and equipment to customers around the world. CAE says the sales agreements were worth a total of more than $200 million, including 14 full-flight simulators.

Starbucks fell 1.4 per cent in premarket trading after Deutsche Bank downgraded the stock to "hold" from "buy."

Juniper Networks sank 8 per cent in the premarket after the company estimated quarterly profit and revenue below analysts' expectations.

Earnings include: CSX Corp.; DavidsTea Inc.; theScore Inc.

Also see: Tuesday's small-cap stocks to watch

With files from wire services

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