Morning Briefing: Markets start the week higher despite North Korea

Markets start the week higher despite North Korea
The testing of a ballistic missile by North Korea over the weekend met with strong words from President Trump who said the US will continue to support Japan. 

His words have helped investors in Asia remain confident in risk- taking and markets have closed broadly higher, led by Sydney which benefitted from gaining materials prices. 

In Europe, regional earnings and politics remain key factors for the equity markets along with global issues and the strong gains for Wall Street Friday. 

The European Commission has given its verdict on the impact of Brexit on the UK economy; it has revised its growth forecast to 1.5 per cent this year while keeping 2018’s growth outlook at 1.2 per cent.

Wall Street and Toronto are expected to open higher.

	Latest	1 month ago	1 year ago
North America (previous session)
US Dow Jones	20,269.37 (+0.48 per cent)	+1.93 per cent	+26.89 per cent
TSX Composite	15,729.12 (+0.72 per cent)	+1.50 per cent	+27.04 per cent
Europe (at 5.00am ET)
UK FTSE	7,261.26 (+0.03 per cent)	-1.08 per cent	+27.17 per cent
German DAX	11,723.95 (+0.49 per cent)	+0.81 per cent	+30.74 per cent
Asia (at close)
China CSI 300	3,436.27 (+0.67 per cent)	+3.50 per cent	+15.94 per cent
Japan Nikkei	19,459.15 (+0.41 per cent)	+0.89 per cent	+30.14 per cent
Other Data (at 5.00am ET)
Oil (Brent)	Oil (WTI)	Gold	Can. Dollar
56.41 (-0.51 per cent)	53.58 (-0.52 per cent)	1230.90 (-0.40 per cent)	U$0.7632
			Aus. Dollar
			U$0.7678

Fitch says Canada at risk from Trump policies
Fitch Ratings names Canada as one of several countries at risk from Donald Trump’s policies.

The firm says that those countries with the highest levels of direct investment risk punitive trade measures; Canada is among these along with the UK, Netherlands, Mexico, Germany, China and Brazil.

Fitch also says that those nations with close economic ties to the US are most at risk in terms of their credit fundamentals; Canada again leads this list.

Although the agency says there could be positives following “an early flurry of disruptive change to establish a fundamental reorientation of policy direction,” it notes that “the present balance of risks points toward a less benign global outcome.”