Before the Bell: What every Canadian investor needs to know today

Equities

Global markets were mixed as AI-related earnings announcements prompted wildly different responses, raising the stakes ​for Amazon and Intel results due later in the day.

Hefty cash ‌burn from Alphabet sent its shares 10 per cent lower in after-hours trading, wiping nearly US$400-billion off its market value. Meanwhile, Microsoft forecast fiscal second-quarter cloud growth and overall sales that beat Wall Street estimates, sending shares up more than 5 per cent in after-hours trading.

Wall Street futures were mixed, with the Dow pointing higher after major North American markets closed up yesterday.

TSX futures were in positive territory.

In Canada, investors are getting results from Air Canada, Restaurant Brands International Inc., Teck Resources Ltd., TMX Group Ltd., TFI International Inc., AltaGas Ltd. and Centerra Gold Inc.

On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from Amazon.com Inc., Eli Lilly & Co., Mastercard Inc., Intel Corp., Merck & Co. Inc., Caterpillar Inc., Gilead Sciences Inc. and Starbucks Corp.

“The reason why Alphabet is down is because ⁠their traditional revenue service of ad generation has been impacted by the very thing which is the ⁠AI boom. So it’s causing a mix of results for Google,” said Jamie Hannah, deputy head of investments at VanEck.

“Both Alphabet and Microsoft confirmed that the ​AI revenue generation is still solid.”

Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.32 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.43 per cent, Germany’s DAX advanced 0.48 per cent and France’s CAC 40 gained 0.74 per cent.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 1.1 per cent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 0.59 per cent.

Commodities

Oil prices fell, paring gains made a day ​earlier, as hopes for peace talks took the edge ‌off renewed concerns over Middle East supply disruptions from the escalating regional conflict.

Brent crude futures dropped 0.7 per cent to US$114.47 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 1.1 per cent to US$101.65.

“Selling pressure is prevailing amid expectations that peace talks may ‌resume,” said Yuki Takashima, an economist at Nomura Securities. “However, the decline remains limited.”

In other commodities, spot gold slid 1.1 per cent to US$4,024.22 an ounce, while U.S. gold futures for December delivery fell 0.4 per cent to US$4,035.90.

Currencies and bonds

The Canadian dollar strengthened against its U.S. counterpart.

The day range on the loonie was 71.41 US cents to 71.59 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was up about 1.6 per cent against the greenback over the past month. It traded at $1.3993 per US$1.

The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, climbed 0.02 per cent to 102.22.

The euro slid 0.13 per cent to US$1.114. The British pound eased 0.08 per cent to US$1.3314.

In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last down at 4.990 per cent.

Economic news

Bank of Japan’s monetary policy meeting

ECB monetary policy meeting

Euro zone economic and consumer confidence

8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. initial jobless claims for week of Oct. 24.

8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. personal income and spending for September. The consensus projections are month-over-month increases of 0.3 per cent and 0.1 per cent, respectively.

8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. core PCE price index for September. The Street is expecting a month-over-month gain of 0.3 per cent and year-over-year increase of 3.1 per cent.

8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. GDP and GDP price index for Q3. The consensus estimates are annualized rate gains of 3.2 per cent and 2.4 per cent, respectively.

8:50 a.m. ET: Bank of Canada Deputy Governor Toni Gravelle delivers opening remarks at the BoC’s annual economic conference.

11:30 a.m. ET: Bank of Canada Deputy Governor Nicolas Vincent delivers opening remarks at the John Kuszczak Memorial Lecture.

Also: Ontario’s fiscal update and Canada-EU summit in Montreal (through Friday).

With Reuters and The Canadian Press