Morning Briefing: Earnings, Fed in focus

Earnings, Fed in focus

Regional earnings and this week’s Federal Reserve interest rates decision are the focus of the markets so far Wednesday.

Asia’s markets are subdued with Sydney down almost 1 per cent, Shanghai also lower but Seoul and Hong Kong gaining. Tokyo is closed for today and the rest of the week for public holidays.

European indexes are generally lower ahead of the Fed and following regional data. Eurozone GDP held steady at 1.7 per cent while producer prices softened. German unemployment was reduced by more than expected. Also in focus for European markets is this Sunday’s French presidential elections and Brexit rhetoric ahead of negotiations, which won’t begin until after the UK’s general election next month.

Wall Street and Toronto are expected to open lower. US manufacturing and oil inventory data is due.
 

	Latest	1 month ago	1 year ago
North America (previous session)
US Dow Jones	20,949.89 (+0.17 per cent)	+1.45 per cent	+18.02 per cent
TSX Composite	15,619.65 (+0.28 per cent)	+0.23 per cent	+13.95 per cent
Europe (at 5.00am ET)
UK FTSE	7,236.35 (-0.19 per cent)	-0.64 per cent	+16.99 per cent
German DAX	12,491.49 (-0.13 per cent)	+1.91 per cent	+25.84 per cent
Asia (at close)
China CSI 300	3,413.13 (-0.39 per cent)	-1.24 per cent	+6.21 per cent
Japan Nikkei	19,445.70 (+0.70 per cent)	+2.44 per cent	+20.43 per cent
Other Data (at 5.00am ET)
Oil (Brent)	Oil (WTI)	Gold	Can. Dollar
51.06 (+1.19 per cent)	48.16 (+1.05 per cent)	1254.40 (-0.21 per cent)	U$0.7289
			Aus. Dollar
			U$0.7486

US crude stocks lower but OPEC fears continue

Industry data from the American Petroleum Institute shows a larger-than-expected drop in crude stockpiles with 4.2 million fewer barrels last week compared to forecasts by analysts in a Reuters poll.

But while the figures, released late Tuesday, have given a boost to oil prices there is continued concern over compliance of OPEC members to the output cut.

With members due to vote on extending the production cap for a further 6 months, it will be essential for the markets that genuine action is being taken to curb supply and support the markets.

US Department of Energy data is released Wednesday showing official crude oil and gasoline inventories.