The euro traded at an 18-month high on Wednesday as financial markets continued to bask in the afterglow of the EU recovery fund agreement deal, while a precious metals boom took silver’s recent gains to 20% and gold to a nine-year high.
News from China that the United States had told it to close its consulate in Houston caused a bout of risk aversion in European trading, but stock markets had been consolidating anyway after their recent surges.
Asian stocks had spent most of the day dithering and Europe’s morning dip added to the list of gyrations keeping traders occupied.
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Silver gained 5% to a six-year high of $23 per ounce before profit-taking struck. Gold’s high of $1,865 an ounce took its gains this month to nearly 20%.
The euro was perched above $1.15 for the first time since early 2019, and despite a minor tick up on the Houston headlines the dollar was at its lowest against a basket of the main world currencies since March.
“With the U.S. struggling with the pandemic, there is a growing divergence of growth expectations with Europe and Asia Pacific,” said RBC analyst Alvin Tan.
“We’ll keep an eye on what is happening in Houston, but the fact is that in a typical up-cycle for the global economy the dollar tends to underperform, of course”.
China’s foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a regular daily news briefing that the United States had abruptly told Beijing on Tuesday to close its consulate.
“We urge the U.S. to immediately revoke this erroneous decision,” he said. “Should it insist on going down this wrong path, China will react with firm countermeasures.”
China’s offshore yuan weakened past 7 per dollar on the news and was last at 7.0028. The dollar index inched up 0.2% from March lows it had hit on Tuesday.
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“That headline triggered some profit taking, quite an aggressive one in USDCNY, USDCNH,” said Christy Tan, head of markets strategy for Asia at National Australia Bank in Singapore.
“It’s a timing issue. All this is coming as tensions between the U.S. and China are escalating. This added fuel to fire,” she said.
PEDAL TO THE METALS
The pan-European STOXX 600 extended its early drop to stand down 1% by 0900 GMT. Commodity-linked stocks along with travel and autos provided the biggest drags with falls of around 2%.
S&P 500 futures were down 0.5% following Tuesday’s mixed session on Wall Street, amid concern about rising U.S. coronavirus cases and political disagreement over the next U.S. fiscal aid package.
The United States reported more than 1,000 deaths from COVID-19 on Tuesday, the first time that grim milestone has been passed since June. President Donald Trump warned that things would probably get worse before they got better.
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The euro was last at $1.1515 after going as high as 1.1547, its best since January 2019. The Australian dollar held near a year-high of $0.7144 which was bolstered by upbeat Aussie retail sales data.
Copper prices drooped 1.3% after the Houston headlines . Shanghai and Dalian iron ore futures rose for a second straight session on expectations of strong Chinese demand.
Oil prices remained rangebound, hurt by inventory concerns. Brent futures slipped 0.4% to $44.14 per barrel and U.S. crude fell 0.5% to $41.70 a barrel.
Reuters
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TORONTO – Restaurant Brands International Inc. reported net income of US$357 million for its third quarter, down from US$364 million in the same quarter last year.
The company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says its profit amounted to 79 cents US per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with 79 cents US per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue for the parent company of Tim Hortons, Burger King, Popeyes and Firehouse Subs, totalled US$2.29 billion, up from US$1.84 billion in the same quarter last year.
Consolidated comparable sales were up 0.3 per cent.
On an adjusted basis, Restaurant Brands says it earned 93 cents US per diluted share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 90 cents US per diluted share a year earlier.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents US per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Fortis Inc. reported a third-quarter profit of $420 million, up from $394 million in the same quarter last year.
The electric and gas utility says the profit amounted to 85 cents per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30, up from 81 cents per share a year earlier.
Fortis says the increase was driven by rate base growth across its utilities, and strong earnings in Arizona largely reflecting new customer rates at Tucson Electric Power.
Revenue in the quarter totalled $2.77 billion, up from $2.72 billion in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Fortis says it earned 85 cents per share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 84 cents per share in the third quarter of 2023.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 82 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.
TORONTO – Thomson Reuters reported its third-quarter profit fell compared with a year ago as its revenue rose eight per cent.
The company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says it earned US$301 million or 67 cents US per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30. The result compared with a profit of US$367 million or 80 cents US per diluted share in the same quarter a year earlier.
Revenue for the quarter totalled US$1.72 billion, up from US$1.59 billion a year earlier.
In its outlook, Thomson Reuters says it now expects organic revenue growth of 7.0 per cent for its full year, up from earlier expectations for growth of 6.5 per cent.
On an adjusted basis, Thomson Reuters says it earned 80 cents US per share in its latest quarter, down from an adjusted profit of 82 cents US per share in the same quarter last year.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 76 cents US per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.
