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U.S. stock futures were higher early Thursday bolstered by reports that the Trump administration is looking to jump-start new talks with Beijing in the U.S.-China trade row. Central bank news dominates the global picture with policy decisions from the European Central Bank and the Bank of England as well as Turkey’s central bank. TSX futures were lower with emerging market concerns pulling crude prices back from the previous session’s highs.

Overnight, world markets were mostly steady with MSCI’s all-country index, which weighs stocks in 47 countries, heading for its fourth straight day of gains.

“While the Bank of England and European Central Bank would typically steal the spotlight, it’s actually the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey that will likely steal the headlines today,” OANDA analyst Craig Erlam said. “With inflation in Turkey close to 18 per cent and the currency having repeatedly fallen to all-time lows against the [U.S.] dollar, it’s become quite clear to all that the central bank needs to step in with a substantial hike and its unexpected pledge last week that its monetary stance will be adjusted, suggests it will do just that.”

Turkey’s central bank raised its key benchmark rate by 625 basis points to 24 per cent.

Little action is seen from either the ECB or the BoE, both of which have moved to tighten policy recently with the Bank of England raising interest rates and the European Central Bank tapering its bond-buying program. (The Bank of England ultimately left its policy rate unchanged as did the ECB.)

On trade, China said Thursday that it welcomed an invitation from Washington for new bilateral trade talks. The White House’s top economic adviser said Wednesday that the Trump administration had invited Chinese officials to restart trade negotiations, giving a lift to Asian stocks. Shares Boeing and Caterpillar, both of which tend to be sensitive to rate headlines, were up in premarket trading.

In corporate news, Sobey’s owner Empire Co. said earnings per share in the latest quarter rose to 35 cents from 20 cents a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, earnings in the most recent quarter totalled 37 cents, up from last year’s 32 cents. However, analysts had been expecting earnings of 42 cents a share by that measure in the latest three-month period. Same-store sales excluding fuel increased 1.3 per cent. Excluding pharmacy sales, same-store sales were up 1.8 per cent in the quarter. In the final quarter of last year, Empire launched a three-year restructuring aimed at simplifying its structure and reducing costs.

Meanwhile, Dollarama Inc. posted a 7.6-per-cent rise in quarterly profit. The Montreal-based retailer’s net income rose to $141.8-million, or 43 cents a share, in the second quarter ended July 29, from $131.8-million, or 38 cents a share, a year earlier. Sales rose to $868.5-million from $812.5-million. Same-store sales for the quarter rose 2.6 per cent, below the 5.26-per-cent increase analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S had been expecting.

On Wall Street, Apple Inc. shares were up slightly after falling more than 1 per cent in the previous session following the tech giant’s latest product announcement. The products included a bigger iPhone and a new version of the Apple Watch. After last year’s announcement of the iPhone X, Wednesday’s unveiling was viewed as a relatively small step forward, resulting in the initial decline in share price.

Overseas, European shares were mixed as markets awaited central bank news. Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.48 per cent. Germany’s DAX rose 0.35 per cent and France’s CAC 40 was up 0.17 per cent. The pan-European STOXX 600 was mostly flat, edging up 0.01 per cent.

Asian markets, meanwhile, gained on news of renewed hope for U.S.-China trade relations. Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.96 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 2.54 per cent. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.15 per cent.

Commodities

Crude prices pulled back from multimonth highs as emerging market risks and ongoing global trade concerns weigh on sentiment. Brent crude - which touched US$80 a barrel on Wednesday for the first time since May - was trading just above the US$79 a barrel market in the predawn hours and had a range for the day of US$78.78 to US$79.71. West Texas Intermediate, which topped US$70 a barrel in the previous session, was down more than 1 per cent in early going and had a range for the day of US$69.06 to US$70.28.

“Oil has eased back early this morning after moving towards a four-year high in the previous session,” Jasper Lawler, head of research for London Capital Group, said in a note. “With Hurricane Florence heading towards the east coast, U.S. oil production could be disturbed whilst fuel needs for a huge evacuation boosted demand. The start of the U.S. hurricane season, in addition to the hit on Iran’s production which is due to start in November could see oil well supported across the coming weeks."

However, in a report released early Thursday, the International Energy Agency also said mounting global economic concerns could also weigh on prices even as world oil demand heads toward 100 million barrels a day.

“Things are tightening up,” the agency said in its monthly report. “As we move into 2019, a possible risk to our forecast lies in some key emerging economies, partly due to currency depreciations versus the U.S. dollar raising the cost of imported energy.”

Reuters also notes that a recent survey suggests U.S. companies operating in China are being hurt by current tariffs and and have lobbied the Trump administration to reconsider its actions. Those concerns coincide with news this week that the U.S. has invited China to restart trade talks.

In other commodities, gold prices were steady after touching a one-week high on Wednesday on signs of thawing tensions between China and the United States.

Spot gold mostly flat at US$1,205.78 an ounce overnight, after hitting its highest since Aug. 31 at US$1,208.48 on Wednesday. Gold gained 0.7 per cent in the previous session. That was bullion’s biggest one day rise since late August.

In other metals, silver and platinum prices were higher. Copper hit a two-week high in London, helped by the latest U.S-China trade news.

Currencies and bonds

The Canadian dollar popped above 77 US cents with less than an hour to go before the start of trading in North America, hitting the top end of the day range of 76.81 US cents to 77.03 US cents. Trade - particularly ongoing NAFTA talks - continue to be a key factor in the Canadian dollar’s daily movements.

“Canada’s chief NAFTA negotiator is returning to DC to continue talks, but Minister [Chrystia] Freeland will stay in Canada for now (she said that should ‘absolutely not’ be taken as a sign that talks are stalled, but clearly they’re not on the brink of resolution),” Elsa Lignos, RBC’s head of global FX strategy, said. “Political timing is particularly complicated, with the U.S. needing to publish text by Sept. 30 and Quebec holding a general election on Oct. 1.”

In global currencies, the U.S. dollar shifted higher against a group of world counterparts as investors await central bank news. The U.S. dollar index hit a two-week low of 94.73 in Wednesday’s session. The index was up 0.2 per cent at 94.93 early this morning.

In bonds, yields fell after U.S. inflation figures showed the consumer price index rose by less than forecast. The yield on the 10-year note was lower at 2.952 per cent after the release of the figures. The yield on the 30-year note was also lower at 3.096 per cent.

Stocks set to see action

U.S. chip maker Qualcomm Inc said on Thursday it would buy back about US$16-billion of its common stock as part of the previously announced $30 billion stock repurchase plan. Qualcomm is seeking to compensate investors for the collapse of its US$44-billon acquisition of NXP Semiconductors in July due to Chinese opposition. Shares were up more than 2 per cent in premarket trading.

U.S.-listed shares of Canadian medical marijuana company Tilray Inc. were up 6 per cent in premarket trading after receiving approval for exporting medical cannabis to Germany.

Walmart Canada Corp. is upping the ante in the online grocery wars, The Globe’s Marina Strauss reports. The U.S.-owned discount giant, which has expanded its grocery offerings over the past 12 years, is launching same-day grocery e-commerce deliveries in parts of the Greater Toronto Area on Thursday and in Winnipeg later this month. Shares of U.S. parent Walmart Inc. were slightly weaker in premarket trading.

Kroger Co missed quarterly same-store sales estimates, as disruptions caused by the supermarket chain changing the way it stocks merchandise on shelves kept some customers away from its stores. Cincinnati-based Kroger said net income rose to US$508-million, or 62 US cents per share, in the second quarter ended Aug. 18, from US$353-million, or 39 US cents per share, a year earlier. The company’s same-store sales, excluding fuel, rose 1.6 per cent in the quarter. Analysts on average had expected a 1.86 per cent increase, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Germany’s highest court has postponed a decision on whether YouTube is liable for violations of intellectual property rights on its video platform in order to seek the opinion of European Union judges, a process expected to take one to two years. The lawsuit, which concerns illegally uploaded songs by the British singer Sarah Brightman, was brought by a music producer who has been quarrelling with Alphabet-owned Google’s YouTube since 2008, seeking compensation not only from the uploader but also from the platform itself.

Walmart-owned Jet.com will soon sell Nike products on its site as it seeks to catch up with Amazon ahead of the holiday shopping season. Jet says Nike sneaker, clothing and other gear will be available in October. The deal comes a year after Nike, which has made a push to sell more swoosh-branded products online, started selling some products on Amazon.com. Nike says the deal is exclusive to Jet and doesn’t include Walmart.

Tesla shares were down more than 1 per cent ahead of the North American open after CEO Elon Musk tweeted that customers may face longer response time due to a significant increase in vehicle delivery volume in North America. “Resolving this is our top priority,” Mr. Musk said.

More reading:

Thursday’s small-cap stocks to watch

Economic news

U.S. initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 204,000 for the week ended Sept. 8, the lowest level since December 1969, the U.S. Labor Department said.

The U.S. annual rate of inflation increased 2.7 per cent in August, slowing from July’s rate of 2.9 per cent.

With Reuters and The Canadian Press

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Tickers mentioned in this story

Study and track financial data on any traded entity: click to open the full quote page. Data updated as of 28/03/24 4:00pm EDT.

SymbolName% changeLast
AAPL-Q
Apple Inc
-1.06%171.48
NKE-N
Nike Inc
-0.16%93.98
AMZN-Q
Amazon.com Inc
+0.31%180.38
TRI-T
Thomson Reuters Corp
-0.41%210.8
TRI-N
Thomson Reuters Corp
-0.08%155.83
QCOM-Q
Qualcomm Inc
+0.1%169.3
DOL-T
Dollarama Inc
-1.4%103.19
NXPI-Q
Nxp Semiconductors
+0.95%247.77
KR-N
Kroger Company
+0.4%57.13

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