Morning Briefing: Markets mostly higher, North American indexes closed

Markets mostly higher, North American indexes closed
While Canadian and US stock markets are closed for holidays Monday, the rest of the world’s indexes are trading generally higher.

Asian bourses closed their sessions with gains despite some weak Japanese data showing exports for January rising, but by far less than analysts had expected. However, it was Sydney’s ASX which was the notable exception to gains with most of its sector groups losing steam.

In Europe, markets are also trending higher. Economic data shows some positive direction for the region while investors are awaiting further detail to Donald Trump’s forthcoming tax shake-up.

Wall Street is closed for Presidents’ Day while Toronto is closed for Family Day.
 

	Latest	1 month ago	1 year ago
North America (previous session)
US Dow Jones	20,624.05 (+0.02 per cent)	+4.02 per cent	+25.82 per cent
TSX Composite	15,838.63 (-0.16 per cent)	+1.87 per cent	+23.61 per cent
Europe (at 5.00am ET)
UK FTSE	7,303.59 (+0.05 per cent)	+1.46 per cent	+22.74 per cent
German DAX	11,824.18 (+0.57 per cent)	+1.66 per cent	+25.94 per cent
Asia (at close)
China CSI 300	3,471.39 (+1.46 per cent)	+3.47 per cent	+13.76 per cent
Japan Nikkei	19,251.08 (+0.09 per cent)	+0.59 per cent	+20.57 per cent
Other Data (at 5.00am ET)
Oil (Brent)	Oil (WTI)	Gold	Can. Dollar
56.35 (+0.97 per cent)	53.80 (+0.75 per cent)	1237.50 (-0.13 per cent)	U$0.7638
			Aus. Dollar
			U$0.7673

US output remains concern for oil markets
Oil prices remain stable Monday but while there is expectation that the OPEC will extend its output cap, the higher shale production from the US is concerning.

"Sustained gains above $55 a barrel, and a hoped for rally to $60 a barrel, (are) both proving incredibly tough nuts to crack," Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at futures brokerage OANDA in Singapore told CNBC.

Meanwhile, the new US Defense Secretary has told reporters that "We're not in Iraq to seize anybody's oil."

James Mattis has spoken to reporters as he visits Iraq, following comments last month from President Trump that the US should have kept the country’s oil as it would have constrained the growth of ISIS.