The last trading week for October is off to a positive start, particularly in commodity action where Natural Gas has soared another 5.5% with home heating season approaching fast, and WTI crude oil up 1.0%. In metals, copper is up 0.4%. Cryptocurrencies are running as well, with Bitcoin gaining 4.2% and Ethereum jumping 2.8%. Gold is up 0.4%.
Stocks are holding steady so far today as investors await a deluge of results from senior companies over the course of this week. In the US, Big Tech, Big Social Media, Big Industry, Big Autos, Big Pharma, Big Oil and other big companies top the calendar for the week, which includes results from 9 of the 30 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. US headliners include Facebook later today, Microsoft and Visa tomorrow, McDonalds on Wednesday, Apple, Amazon.com, Boeing and Caterpillar on Thursday, wrapping up with ExxonMobil and Chevron on Friday.
Canadian earnings season also picks up this week. Results have already started to come out with Restaurant Brands ($1.52 vs street $1.50) beating expectations slightly. Results this week are mainly focused on senior oils, gold miners, base metal miners, and forest products companies. Shopify reports results on Thursday along with Suncor Energy.
The main economic events this week are three central bank meetings starting with the Bank of Canada on Wednesday followed by the Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank on Thursday. With the Canadian election campaign now over, the Bank of Canada may resume its tapering program this week while the European Central Bank may indicate whether it plans to start tapering before the end of this year or not. Overall this week may indicate how much pressure central bankers are under from rising inflation to cut back on stimulus this year and if they may need to accelerate rate hike plans next year. Central bank actions and statements this week may also give us a hint of what to potentially expect when the Fed meets next week. Thursday and Friday bring GDP reports for the US and Canada. Other notable economic reports this week include some housing numbers, US durable goods orders and the US Chicago PMI report Friday.
