Equities
Global markets were mostly higher as investors assessed the impact of last week’s decisive U.S. presidential win by Donald Trump and ahead of a data-packed week that includes inflation figures in the United States and Germany.
Wall Street’s main indexes opened at record highs as optimism on proposed tax cuts and expectations of an easier regulatory environment under Trump continued to lift stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.58 per cent to 44,243.74, the S&P 500 gained 0.22 per cent to 6,008.86, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.36 per cent to 19,355.338 at the bell.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index opened 0.23 per cent higher at 24,815.87, buoyed by technology and financial shares.
“If the new [U.S.] president favours tax cuts over tariffs, the U.S. equities could continue to surf on a wave of optimism, while focusing on tariffs before tax cuts would brush off a part of the present optimism,” Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, wrote in a note.
“For now, optimism prevails.”
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 1.22 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.9 per cent, Germany’s DAX advanced 1.39 per cent and France’s CAC 40 gained 1.21 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.08 per cent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.45 per cent.
Commodities
Oil prices fell after China’s stimulus plan disappointed investors seeking fuel demand growth in the world’s No. 2 oil consumer and as the U.S. dollar edged higher.
Brent crude futures fell 2 per cent to US$72.42 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at US$68.78 a barrel, down 2.3 per cent.
Both benchmarks fell more than 2 per cent on Friday.
“After last week’s U.S. presidential election, attention is slowly drifting back to the underlying fundamentals,” said Tamas Varga, analyst at oil broker PVM.
In other commodities, spot gold dropped 0.8 per cent to US$2,661.91 an ounce. U.S. gold futures fell 0.9 per cent to US$2,668.80.
Currencies and bonds
The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart.
The day range on the loonie was 71.74 US cents to 71.96 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was down about 0.99 per cent against the greenback over the past month.
The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, gained 0.44 per cent to 105.46.
The euro slid 0.55 per cent to US$1.0661. The British pound declined 0.31 per cent to US$1.2881.
Bond markets in Canada and the United States are closed today for Remembrance Day and Veterans Day, respectively.
Economic news
China CPI, PPI, aggregate yuan financing, new yuan loans and money supply
Japan banking lending
With Reuters and The Canadian Press