US index futures are flat this morning as investors digest the gains of the last few days, including advances of 0.50% to 0.75% yesterday for the three main US indices, and dissect the latest round of earnings reports. Overseas, the Hang Seng posted a 1.3% gain while the Nikkei, Dax and FTSE are all flat.
Commodity and currency action is also mixed today. Gold is up 0.8%, and the Canadian Dollar is up 0.2%, while copper is down 1.4%. Bitcoin is up 0.1% trading near $64,000 with the first US Bitcoin Futures ETF now up and running. Energy contracts are in retreat today with WTI and Brent crude oil both down 0.9% while natural gas is down 2.0%.
It’s another busy day for earnings reports. Canadian National Railway reported better than expected EPS ($1.55 vs street $1.41) announced that its embattled CEO will be retiring by the end of January. Netflix beat the street on EPS ($3.19 vs street $2.56) and subscriber growth (4.40M vs street 3.84M). United Airlines posted a smaller than expected loss per share (-$1.02 vs street -$1.67). Later today, results are due from CP Rail and Tesla Motors.
Canadian inflation pressures continue to increase adding pressure on the Bank of Canada to take potentially take additional action on reducing stimulus when it meets next week. Consumer prices in September were up 4.4% over year, up from 4.1% the month earlier and above the 4.32% street estimate. In the US today, weekly DOE crude oil inventories (street 2.2 mmbbl build) are due at 10:30 am EDT. At 2:00 pm EDT, the Fed’s Beige Book regional economic report is due which investors may look to for color on inflation pressures, supply chain disruptions, and general economic conditions across between different parts of the country.
