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

Equities

Global stocks rose to record highs ahead of hotly anticipated North American jobs data and the second round of French elections this weekend.

Wall Street futures were up a day after markets were closed for U.S. Independence Day.

TSX futures were also in the green.

In Canada, investors will digest unemployment data for June.

Labour market data is also in focus on Wall Street, where traders will be parsing June non-farm payrolls data. A softer set of employment numbers could bolster the case for a U.S. rate cut in September, said Guy Miller, chief market strategist at Zurich Insurance Group.

“We’re in the summer holiday sweet spot for markets, with investors focused on inflation coming down to target in big economies,” said Miller.

“That, in combination with weaker U.S. data, is positive for the inflation outlook and that means rate cuts are back on the cards again.”

MSCI’s world stock index touched a fresh record high.

In Europe, markets shifted focus from the U.K. election – where the Labour victory in Thursday’s vote was widely anticipated – to Sunday’s second-round election in France. French stocks have recovered ground after they were sold off sharply following the surprise election announcement last month.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.33 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 was flat at 0.016 per cent, Germany’s DAX rose 0.82 per cent and France’s CAC 40 gained 0.31 per cent.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei was flat, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed down 1.27 per cent.

Commodities

Oil prices were little changed, trading near their highest since late April and on track for a fourth straight week of gains.

Brent crude futures were up 0.13 per cent at US$87.54 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 0.2 per cent to US$84.12 per barrel. U.S. markets were closed Thursday, with no settlement for WTI.

Prices are up on hopes of strong summer fuel demand and some supply concerns.

“Those who have kept faith that the driving season would eventually come are glowing in prescience and the many calls of a much better path for bulls in the third quarter seem to hold true at present,” said PVM oil analyst John Evans.

Spot gold rose 0.4 per cent to US$2,364.87 per ounce.

Currencies and bonds

The Canadian dollar was trading slightly higher than its U.S. counterpart.

The day range on the loonie was 73.42 US cents to 73.52 US cents in the early premarket period. The Canadian dollar was up about 0.46 per cent against the greenback over the past month.

The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, was down 0.16 per cent to 104.96.

The euro gained 0.17 per cent to US$1.0831. The British pound rose 0.23 per cent to US$1.2789.

In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was down slightly at 4.341 per cent ahead of the North American opening bell.

Economic news

Japan household spending

Euro zone retail sales

Germany industrial production

(8:30 a.m. ET) Canadian employment for June. The Street is expected an increase of 0.1 per cent (or 25,000 jobs) from May with the unemployment rate rising 0.2 per cent to 6.4 per cent and average hourly wages up 5.0 per cent year-over-year.

(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. nonfarm payrolls for June. Consensus is an increase of 188,000 jobs with the unemployment rate remaining at 4.0 per cent.

(10 a.m. ET) U.S. Global Supply Chain Pressure Index for June.

With Reuters and The Canadian Press