SIA Wealth Morning Minutes will not be issued on Tuesday December 7, It should return on Wednesday December 8.
It’s not unusual for there to be a lull in news during the second week of the month and with earnings season now over, it has been very quiet for corporate and economic news. The main event over the weekend was the announcement that Saudi Arabia is raising its prices to customers, sparking gains of 2.9% for Brent and WTI crude oil. Natural gas, on the other hand remains extremely volatile and weather driven, plunging 10.1% in early trading. Cryptocurrencies remain under pressure, with bitcoin still under $50,000 and falling another 0.9% today.
Stock markets around the world are mixed as investors digest last week’s mixed employment numbers, recent hints that the Fed may accelerate tapering, and the potential implications of the COVID Omicron wave for the economy. Premarket trading finds Dow futures up 0.7% but NASDAQ futures down 0.2%. Overseas., the FTSE is up 1.0% and the Dax is up 0.6%, but overnight, the Hang Seng dropped 1.7% and the Nikkei fell 0.4%.
There are two central bank meetings of note this week, the Reserve Bank of Australia tonight and the Bank of Canda on Wednesday. These banks’ decisions and statements may provide additional information on the state of their economies, and how concerned they are about inflation pressures, providing a reading of the room heading into next week’s Fed meeting. Other economic news of note scheduled for this week include China trade numbers tonight and US consumer price inflation on Friday. A few lingering retailers report results this week, including Dollarama and Gamestop Wednesday, followed by Costco on Thursday and lululemon on Friday.
