Today is looking like an in-between day for trading, with the impact of recent developments fading and traders awaiting the next round of potentially market moving news.
US index futures and the FTSE are flat, consolidating yesterday's moves that included a new all-time high for the Dow and a catch up rally for the NASDAQ. Speaking of catching up, Italy's FTSE MIB and Spain's IBEX are both up 1.4% while the DAX is up 0.2% building on yesterday's rally.
Crude oil is down 0.5% in a normal trading correction of recent gains as the post-OPEC party winds down. Today finds WTI near $51.50 and Brent just under $55.0 as traders await Saturday's meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC producers to nail down cuts from Russia, Mexico and others.
Currencies have been steady overnight. Gold and JPY continue to stabilize while GBP and CAD are up slightly. AUD slipped a bit following the RBA meeting where it's central bank held interest steady and had a mixed to slightly improved assessment of the local economy.
There is some data on trade and factory orders today, but no more Fed speakers as the pre-meeting blackout period has now started. Because of this, focus may turn elsewhere for the next few days with the Bank of Canada meeting Wednesday and the ECB meeting on Thursday.
Canadian bank stocks could attract significant attention as bank earnings season wraps up on a positive note. Bank of Montreal reported EPS of $2.10 way above the $1.85 street estimate and announced a 2.3% dividend increase, a positive sign for the Canadian economy.