Broad indices are mixed to start the trading week. Dow Futures are up 0.3% and the Nikkei rose 0.5%. On the other hand, NASDAQ futures are down 0.3%, while the Hang Seng, Dax and FTSE are all flat.
The reaction to Friday’s weak US and Canadian employment reports appears to have run its course already with the US 10-year treasury note yield settling back into the 1.50s%. This week is quieter for economic news with the main events, US retail sales and US industrial production both set for Friday.
Investors appear to be more focused on two weekend events which have had a particular impact on commodity trading. A cyberattack against Colonial Pipeline, one of the largest pipelines in the US has sparked a rally in energy prices with RBOB gasoline up 1.6% and WTI crude oil up 0.8%.
This morning Pfizer’s vaccine partner BioNTech is up 8.2% in premarket action after reporting stronger than expected sales and earnings, plans to increase manufacturing capacity. Several studies have also come out recently suggesting the vaccine has been effective against some of the newer COVID variants as well. With their successful vaccine rollout helping to support a reopening trend, metals are rising again this morning, led by copper and platinum which are both up 1.8%, followed by Silver up 1.3% and gold up 0.6%.
We have now moved into the later innings of US earnings season where most of the large caps companies have reported results and the slate is dominated by a large number of small and medium sized companies. The main US companies reporting this week are Disney and Nordstrom (first major retailer) both on Thursday. In Canada this week, a number of miners and energy producers are putting out results this week. For example, HudBay Minerals and Kinross Gold report Tuesday followed by Crescent Point Energy on Wednesday. Canadian Tire, Home Capital and Sierra Wireless report results on Thursday.
