Equities
Global markets were muted to end a turbulent week dominated by revelations of extramarital affairs involving Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang that led to his resignation, in a blow to the global AI boom he helped advance.
Wall Street futures were in positive territory after major North American markets closed down yesterday.
TSX futures followed sentiment higher.
In Canada, investors are getting results from Onex Corp. and Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund.
“Jensen has obviously been a singular force in many ways so the impact will likely be felt far and wide,” said UBS analyst Timothy Arcuri.
“The company has become a key source of funds for a host of AI industry participants including neo-clouds, LLM developers, ecosystem partners, and suppliers, and we have always seen Jensen as a key driving force for this effort. Even if a new leader ultimately maintains a similar approach, there is likely to be some ‘pause’ in the company’s willingness and ability to continue pursuing these deals in the near term.”
Wall Street’s week ahead: Nvidia results, Anthropic IPO pose tests for tumultuous AI trade
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.1 per cent. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.03 per cent, Germany’s DAX slipped 0.11 per cent and France’s CAC 40 eased 0.02 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.53 per cent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.55 per cent.
Commodities
Oil prices rose while heading for a second weekly decline as the continued U.S. focus on its blockade and economic pressure on Iran eased fears of renewed fighting in the Middle East, though shipping attacks remained a supply risk.
Brent futures were up 1.02 per cent to US$96.80 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures gained 0.43 per cent to US$89.12 a barrel. Both benchmarks were on track for a 2-per-cent drop this week, after plunging double digits last week.
“The market is range bound post midterms. The ability for more hostilities [in Iran] is restricted but a deal is equally elusive,” said Jeff Currie, founder of Real Macro and former global head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs.
“That means the market is roughly balanced, with the ability to trade up limited and the ability to trade down limited,” he said.
In other commodities, spot gold rose 0.5 per cent to US$3,894.52 an ounce. U.S. gold futures for December delivery gained 0.4 per cent to US$3,898.70.
Currencies and bonds
The Canadian dollar strengthened against its U.S. counterpart.
The day range on the loonie was 70.06 US cents to 70.21 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was down about 0.76 per cent against the greenback over the past month. It traded at $1.4250 per US$1.
The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, gained 0.05 per cent to 103.23.
The euro edged down 0.02 per cent to US$1.1053. The British pound declined 0.04 per cent to US$1.3231.
In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last up at 5.155 per cent.
Economic news
Euro zone GDP and trade deficit
8:30 a.m. ET: Canadian manufacturing sales for September, which were essentially unchanged.
8:30 a.m. ET: Canadian wholesale trade for September, which rose 0.7 per cent.
8:30 am. ET: U.S. PPI for October, which rose 0.3 per cent from the previous month and shot up 6.5 per cent. The Street had been estimating a rise of 0.4 per cent from September and up 6.5 per cent year-over-year.
With Reuters and The Canadian Press
