What every Canadian investor needs to know today

Global markets were mostly higher ahead of the European Central Bank’s monetary policy decision, which saw the ECB make its first back-to-back interest rate cut in 13 years.
Wall Street’s main indexes jumped at the open, with the S&P 500 notching up a record high as an upbeat forecast from TSMC boosted semiconductor stocks, while a bigger-than-expected rise in September retail sales pointed to a strong U.S. consumer.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.38 per cent to 43,243.07, the S&P 500 gained 0.57 per cent to 5,875.62, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.93 per cent to 18,537.212 at the bell.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index opened 0.40 per cent higher at 24,660.05, driven by gains in financials and technology stocks.
On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from Netflix Inc., Blackstone Inc. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC).
“In our view, this is unlikely to be the last cut from the ECB this year. Another cut is likely in December, and we expect this will be followed by a series of cuts at every meeting through to June next year,” said Dean Turner, chief euro zone economist, UBS Global Wealth Management.
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.81 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 advanced 0.53 per cent, Germany’s DAX gained 0.75 per cent and France’s CAC 40 rose 1.29 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.69 per cent lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gave back 1.02 per cent.
Oil prices were broadly flat as investors waited on developments in the Middle East, the release of official U.S. oil inventory data and details on China’s stimulus plans.
Brent crude futures were down 4 US cents to US$74.18 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at US$70.37 a barrel, down 2 US cents.
“We are now playing a waiting game for two things. Firstly the China NPC (National People’s Congress) standing committee to flesh out the details and the size of the fiscal stimulus package which I believe is coming,” said Tony Sycamore, IG market analyst in Sydney.
Israel’s response to Iran’s recent attack was the second major focus for the market, he said.
In other commodities, spot gold rose 0.6 per cent to US$2,689.86 an ounce, a new record high of US$2,685.60. U.S. gold futures gained 0.5 per cent to US$2,705.30.
The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart.
The day range on the loonie was 72.53 US cents to 72.75 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was down about 1.59 per cent against the greenback over the past month.
The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, declined 0.11 per cent to 103.48.
The euro advanced 0.06 per cent to US$1.0868. The British pound climbed 0.18 per cent to US$1.3013.
In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last up at 4.040 per cent.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., the world’s largest contract chipmaker, has reported a forecast-beating 54-per-cent jump in quarterly profit driven by soaring demand for chips used in artificial intelligence.
Japan trade balance
Euro zone CPI and trade surplus
ECB monetary policy meeting and announcement. The European Central Bank cut interest rates by 25 basis points.
(8:30 a.m. ET) Canadian construction investment for August.
(8:30 a.m. ET) Canada’s international securities transactions for August.
(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. initial jobless claims for week of Oct. 12, which dropped 19,000 to a seasonally adjusted 241,000. Estimate was 300,000, up 42,000 from the previous week.
(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. retail sales for September, which rose 0.4 per cent from August, compared with an estimate of 0.3 per cent. Retail sales excluding automobiles rose 0.5 per cent compared with the 0.1-per-cent forecast.
(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. Philadelphia Fed Index for October.
(9:15 a.m. ET) U.S. industrial production and capacity utilization for September.
(10 a.m. ET) U.S. NAHB Housing Index for October.
(10 a.m. ET) U.S. business inventories for August.
With Reuters and The Canadian Press