When investors think if the potential havoc weather can wreak on energy production and distribution in North America, it’s usually related to summer hurricanes. This time around, its a winter storm which reached down into Texas over the weekend, causing power outages, shuttering refineries and disrupting pipeline service. This has caused consumer energy contracts to soar this morning including gains of 5.5% for natural gas, 3.8% for gasoline and 2.2% for heating oil. WTI crude oil, on the other hand is up only 0.2%, while Brent Crude is down 0.4%.
Broader markets are also up again this morning US index futures are all up about 0.5% this morning, looking to build on Friday’s record closing highs for the Nasdaq, S&P 500, Dow Industrials, and the S&P/TSX Composite. Asia Pacific markets have already returned from holidays with gains of 1.9% for the Hang Seng and 1.3% for the Nikkei. Metals action is mixed with Platinum soaring 3.5%, copper climbing 1.3%, Silver rising 0.7%. Gold, however, is down 0.7% while Bitcoin is still up 1.6% despite slumping back a bit after touching $50,000.
Weather may remain in the spotlight for the coming days as this holiday-shortened trading week is otherwise pretty light for market news. The main economic events are retail sales reports for the US on Wednesday, followed by Canada and the UK on Friday. It is another busy week for earnings in Canada, with results due from across a wide variety of sectors including mining (both base metals and precious metals), energy, technology and automotive. Canadian headliners include First Quantum* today, Shopify tomorrow, Teck Resources*, Canadian Tire* and Barrick Gold Thursday, wrapping up with Magna* on Friday. The US is in-between the end of the main earnings season and retailer earnings which don’t get going until next week.
*Shares of First Quantum, Canadian Tire, Magna, and Teck Resources are held in some portfolios managed by SIA Wealth Management.
SIA Wealth True Tactical Market Update Webinar Today February 16, 2:00 pm EDT
Please join us for our Feb 2021 advisor webinar where we will be discussing True Tactical investing, an update on our funds, and an update on the markets.
Register at: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/727695689525355791
Webinar audio will be available through computer VoIP or dial in using your phone. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
