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 are trading higher this morning, shrugging off Monday's afternoon pullback. Continental European indexes are up 1-2 per cent, with the Dax gaining 1.1 per cent and the FTSE 0.8 per cent. Index futures for the Dow, S&P 500 and TSX 60 are up about 0.3 per cent.
Sentiment toward China's economy has stabilized a bit with the Hang Seng gaining 0.4 per cent, while copper is down just slightly after a big pullback on Monday. Crude oil is steady today, but was on the rise earlier this morning. About 90 per cent of the buildings in Fort McMurray were saved from the wildfires in Alberta along with the oil sands facilities, indicating that once the crisis phase passes, oil sands production could resume within a reasonable amount of time.
Stocks in the resource dominated Australian market rose 0.4 per cent overnight on the commodity bounce, which bodes well for trading in Canada today, particularly after Monday's action took some base metal miners down over 10 per cent and many major gold miners down over 5 per cent.
European indexes appear to be up today on two main factors. First, the outline of a three-stage debt relief plan for Greece has been revealed that could include debt management, longer grace and payment periods and perhaps more relief down the road. This may be providing some relief from long-running uncertainty over Greece's place in the euro zone. Comments suggesting that helicopter money is not needed for Europe may also be helping to give traders some confidence, although data suggest otherwise. A strong trade balance and positive industrial production for Germany, but falling industrial production for France, Italy, Greece and Norway, confirm that the euro zone project still appears to be running at two speeds, with some economies benefiting at the expense of others.
Now, here is a closer look at what's going on this morning and what is still to come.
MARKET DATA: (as of approximately 715 a.m. ET:)
Futures
Dow +0.35 per cent; S&P 500 +0.30 per cent; Nasdaq: +0.23 per cent; TSX 60 +0.3 per cent
Equities
Japan's Nikkei +2.15 per cent
Shanghai composite index +0.04 per cent
Hong Kong's Hang Seng +0.43 per cent
Germany's DAX +0.83 per cent
London's FTSE +0.59 per cent
France's CAC 40 +0.71 per cent
Commodities
WTI crude oil (Nymex June) -0.25 per cent at $43.33 (U.S.) a barrel
Gold (Comex June) unchanged at $1,266.60 (U.S.) an ounce
Copper (Comex July) -0.24 per cent at $2.1015 (U.S.) a pound
Currencies
Canadian dollar -0.07 at 77.08 cents (U.S.)
U.S. dollar index +0.16 at 94.30
Bonds
Canada 10-year bond yield unch at 1.319 per cent
Canada 2-year bond yield -0.002 at 0.526 per cent
KEY ECONOMIC RELEASES
(10 a.m. ET) U.S. wholesale inventories for March. Consensus is a 0.1-per-cent increase from February.
(10 a.m. ET) U.S. job openings and labor turnover survey for March.
KEY STOCKS TO WATCH
George Weston reported adjusted earnings of $1.31, two cents above Street forecasts. Revenue of $10.80 billion matched forecasts.
TMX Group late Monday reported adjusted profit of $1 a share, higher than analysts' average estimate of 89 Canadian cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Revenue fell 4 per cent to $177.7 million.
Gap shares fell 13.5 per cent in the premarket trading after the retailer reported a decline in sales for the fifth straight quarter.
SolarCity shares were down 20.5 per cent after the solar panel maker posted a bigger-than-expected quarterly loss and cut its forecast.
Lumber Liquidators fell 10.8 per cent in the premarket as the company's sales fell for the fourth straight quarter.
Other earnings today include: Absolute Software Corp.; Aecom; Alaris Royalty Corp.; Allergan plc; Alterra Power Corp.; Avigilon Corp.; BELLUS Health Inc.; Bird Construction Inc.; Bonterra Energy Corp.; Dean Foods Co.; Electronic Arts Inc.; First Capital Realty Inc.; First Majestic Silver Corp.; George Weston Ltd.; Guardian Capital Group Ltd.; Guyana Goldfields Inc.; IBI Group Inc.; Intertain Group Ltd.; Intertape Polymer Group Inc.; Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.; Kelso Technologies Inc.; Keyera Corp.; Kinross Gold Corp.; Klondex Mines Ltd.; Liquor Stores NA Ltd; Magellan Aerospace Corp.; Morguard Corp.; Newalta Corp.; Nuvo Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Parex Resources Inc.; Petrowest Corp.; Peyto Exploration & Development Corp.; Pine Cliff Energy Ltd.; Pizza Pizza Royalty Corp.; Polaris Infrastructure Inc.; Rona Inc.; Sleep Country Canada Holdings Inc.; Sprott Resource Corp.; Sun Life Financial; SunOpta Inc.; Surge Energy Inc.; Tribune Media Co.; UrtheCast Corp.; Walt Disney Co.; WSP Global Inc.; Yellow Pages Ltd,
Also see: Tuesday's small-cap stocks to watch
With files from wire services