Morning Briefing: Stock markets remain buoyant, oil gains

Stock markets remain buoyant, oil gains

Equities were boosted by the French election result yesterday and the rally has continued into Tuesday’s early trading.

Stock indexes in most Asian and European markets are higher which has added further downward pressure on gold prices. Oil prices have gained a little overnight but remain weakened by concern over OPEC production cuts.

Asian markets closed higher with Seoul’s KOPSI leading, closely followed by Tokyo and Hong Kong.

European indexes are trending higher although well below the strong gains in the previous session.

Wall Street and Toronto are expected to open higher. US housing data is due along with the consumer confidence index.
 

	Latest	1 month ago	1 year ago
North America (previous session)
US Dow Jones	20,763.89 (+1.05 per cent)	+0.81 per cent	+15.50 per cent
TSX Composite	15,712.46 (+0.63 per cent)	+1.75 per cent	+13.89 per cent
Europe (at 5.00am ET)
UK FTSE	7,280.86 (+0.22 per cent)	-0.76 per cent	+16.29 per cent
German DAX	12,456.83 (+0.01 per cent)	+3.25 per cent	+21.01 per cent
Asia (at close)
China CSI 300	3,441.43 (+0.29 per cent)	-1.38 per cent	+8.84 per cent
Japan Nikkei	19,079.33 (+1.08 per cent)	-0.95 per cent	+9.40 per cent
Other Data (at 5.00am ET)
Oil (Brent)	Oil (WTI)	Gold	Can. Dollar
51.82 (+0.43 per cent)	49.42 (+0.39 per cent)	1271.50 (-0.47 per cent)	U$0.7373
			Aus. Dollar
			U$0.7533

Trump hits Canadian softwood industry with 20 per cent tax

A new tax on Canada’s softwood industry was announced Monday evening by the Trump administration. The tariffs, which could be as high as 24 per cent, follow a breakdown in talks on dairy products.

The US says that the tax on lumber is due to Canadian government subsidies which gives producers an unfair advantage and is damaging US wood producers.

Canada’s federal and provincial governments are likely to challenge the decision in US courts, as they have done in the past. Lumber disputes have been ongoing for decades.