Before the Bell: What every Canadian investor needs to know today

Global markets sank as warnings from Meta Platforms and Microsoft about rising artificial intelligence-related costs dampened optimism regarding megacaps,, while strong economic data cast doubt on more oversized rate cuts.
Wall Street futures pointed down in the waning days of the U.S. presidential race that appears still too close to call and investors awaited more Big Tech earnings reports, including from Apple and Amazon.
TSX futures in negative territory ahead of key domestic GDP and U.S. economic data later in the day.
On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Intel Corp., Mastercard Inc., Merck & Co. Inc., Stellantis NV and Uber Technologies Inc.
In Canada, investors are getting results from Cenovus Energy Inc., Fairfax Financial Ltd., Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., Cogeco Communications Inc. and Gildan Activewear Inc.
“The question now is are we at such a level in the market where investors aren’t going to be rushing to buy up the stock and much more likely to stand aside and sit on their hands,” Trade Nation market strategist David Morrison said.
“There are so many excuses for not increasing your exposure to the market right now and the tech earnings have put the cherry on the top,” he said.
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.86 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.79 per cent, Germany’s DAX dropped 0.51 per cent and France’s CAC 40 gave back 0.98 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.5 per cent lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slid 0.31 per cent.
Oil prices stabilized after rallying the previous day on stronger than expected U.S. fuel demand and reports that producer group OPEC+ could delay a planned output increase.
Brent crude futures gained 7 cents to US$72.62 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures climbed 17 cents to US$68.78 a barrel.
“The surprise decline in U.S. gasoline stockpiles provided a buying opportunity as demand appeared stronger than anticipated,” said Toshitaka Tazawa, an analyst at Fujitomi Securities.
In other commodities, spot gold was down 0.3 per cent to US$2,778.48 an ounce after hitting a record high of US$2,790.15 earlier in the session. U.S. gold futures dropped 0.4 per cent to US$2,789.40.
The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart.
The day range on the loonie was 71.79 US cents to 71.95 US cents in the early premarket period. The Canadian dollar was down about 2.6 per cent against the greenback over the past month.
The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, slipped 0.01 per cent to 103.99.
The euro advanced 0.12 per cent to US$1.0871. The British pound gained 0.11 per cent to US$1.2975.
In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last down at 4.280 per cent ahead of the North American opening bell.
Reduced shipments and lower pricing power slashed Stellantis revenue by 27 per cent in the third quarter, as the auto maker seeks to fix bloated inventories and poor commercial performance that led to a major profit warning last month.
Shell has reported third-quarter profits of $6-billion that exceeded forecasts by 12 per cent as higher liquefied natural gas (LNG) sales offset a sharp drop in oil refining and trading results.
China PMI
Japan retail sales and industrial production
Euro zone CPI and jobless rate
(8:30 a.m. ET) Canada’s monthly real GDP for August. The Street expects a flat reading month-over-month.
(8:30 a.m. ET) Canada’s payroll survey: Job vacancy rate for August.
(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. personal spending and income for September. Consensus is month-over-month increases of 0.4 per cent for both.
(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. core PCE price index for September. Consensus is a rise of 0.3 per cent from August and up 2.6 per cent year-over-year.
(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. initial jobless claims for week of Oct. 26. Estimate is 235,000, up 8,000 from the previous week.
(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. employment cost index for Q3. The Street expects a gain of 0.9 per cent from Q2 and up 4.0 per cent year-over-year.
With Reuters and The Canadian Press