The big swings downward and upward that played out over the last week have slowed somewhat today, in what has been a relatively quiet morning for business news so far.
Confession season has remained quiet so far leaving investors to focus on economic data, particularly employment numbers. Tomorrow brings US nonfarm payrolls (street 250K vs previous 315K) and Canada employment change (street +20K vs previous -39K). In addition to the headline numbers, wage inflation for both the US (street 5.1%) and Canada (previous 5.6%) may be of particular interest to investors.
US employment numbers this week have been mixed so far. ADP payrolls beat expectations yesterday, but Challenger job cuts were troubling (29.9K vs previous 20.5K) showing an acceleration in layoffs from last month. Weekly US jobless claims were worse than expected (219K vs street 200K and previous 190K).
A number of North American central bankers are speaking today. Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem speaks at 11:35 am with investors looking for hints on whether the Governing Council is sticking to its hawkish course or considering another slowing of interest rate hikes. Three FOMC members are speaking in the US today as well.
US index futures have been steadily clawing back overnight losses and are currently down about 0.3%. Over in Europe, the Dax is down 0.2% while the FTSE is down 0.7%. Natural gas is up 2.5%, while Crude Oil contracts are flat. In metals action, Gold and copper are both up about 0.3%.