The Before the Bell report is constantly updated to reflect the latest news developments and market moves in the premarket. Check back later for updates.
North American stock futures are pointing up this morning, although the gains appear pretty tentative given a lack of fresh news and choppy trading in overseas markets overnight.
The partial U.S. government shutdown is entering its fourth day and there continues to be little progress in resolving the budget impasse in Washington. Economists believe a one-week partial shutdown would probably reduce economic growth by 0.1 percentage point.
That in itself isn't too scary for market participants, but prospects that the political stalemate could reduce the chances of successful negotiations on raising the country's $16.7-trillion debt limit - which will be reached on Oct. 17 - certainly are.
The U.S. Treasury warned on Thursday that if Congress fails to raise the debt limit and the country defaults on its debt, there could be a "catastrophic" effect on the economy and financial markets. That dire prediction intensified selling pressure in equity markets on Thursday, but later comments from House Speaker John Boehner indicating that he is willing to work with Democrats to pass an increase in the debt limit helped soothe nerves.
That optimism is continuing into today. While it seems highly improbable that U.S. politicians would willingly allow for such a crisis, the lack of any concrete progress in budget talks and all the uncertainty over when deals will get done is doing little to spark buying interest in stocks.
The U.S. non-farm payrolls report, which normally would be released this morning, has been delayed. There are a handful of Federal Reserve speeches scheduled for today that will be monitored for any clues on when the central bank will start scaling back its $85-billion a month in bond purchases. The Fed meets later this month, but the prolonged government shutdown and uncertainty over the debt ceiling - not to mention the postponement of the jobs data and other economic reports - certainly makes any curtailment for now highly unlikely.
Now, here's a closer look at what's going on this morning and what is to come.
MARKETS:
Equities:
Futures: S&P 500 +0.26 per cent; Dow +0.19 per cent; Nasdaq +0.31 per cent; S&P Toronto +0.15 per cent
Hong Kong's Hang Seng -0.32 per cent
Shanghai composite index Closed for holiday
Japan's Nikkei -0.94 per cent
London's FTSE 100 +0.11 per cent
Germany's DAX -0.01 per cent
France's CAC 40 +0.48 per cent
Commodities:
WTI crude oil (Nymex Nov) +0.31 per cent at $103.62 (U.S.) a barrel
Gold (Comex Dec) -0.14 per cent at $1,315.80 (U.S.) an ounce
Copper (Comex Dec) Unchanged at $3.27 (U.S.) a pound
Currencies:
Canadian dollar at 96.73 (U.S.), down 0.0006 from Thursday's North American close.
U.S. dollar index up 0.16 at 79.91
Bonds:
U.S. 10-year Treasury yield 2.62 per cent, up 0.009
ECONOMIC INDICATORS TO WATCH:
(10 a.m. ET) Canada releases Ivey purchasing managers index for September.
STOCKS TO WATCH:
Forest Oil shares should rally after the company announced late Thursday it was selling off some assets in Texas for $1-billion.
Facebook shares should see some action after its Instagram service said users will start to see ads in their photo-sharing feeds.
ANALYST ACTIONS:
Canaccord Genuity raised its price target on Sandvine to $3 from $2.50 and maintained a "buy" rating.
Raymond James upgraded ExxonMobil to "strong buy" from "outperform" with a price target of $98 (U.S.).
Evercore Partners initiated coverage on JDS Uniphase with an "equal weight" rating and $17 (U.S.) price target.
THIS MORNING'S TOP INVESTING READS ON THE WEB:
A record number of U.S. companies say they're looking at a bad third quarter.
The weird reason why the partial U.S. government shutdown will boost economic growth.
Why most traders fail.
Bitcoin has a major problem.
U.S. mutual funds are crushing hedge funds this year.
The three biggest lies about bond ETFs.
A look at a few of the more famous defunct ETFs and the lessons we can take from their demise.
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For instant headlines on breaking economic and corporate news in the premarket, follow Darcy Keith on Twitter at @eyeonequities.
Darcy Keith