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

Before the Bell: What every Canadian investor needs to know today S.R. SLOBODIAN PUBLISHED 1 HOUR AGO UPDATED 25 MINUTES AGO COMMENTS SHARE SAVE FOR LATER Listen to this article Learn more about audio Log in or create a free account to listen to this article. Equities Global markets climbed on a rally in technology stocks while easing oil prices soothed nerves and boosted risk sentiment. Wall Street futures after a mixed close on major North American markets on Friday. TSX futures followed sentiment higher. Some of the concern that rattled investors last week about global central banks possibly embarking on a hiking cycle subsided, as the oil price edged back towards US$100 a barrel, from highs last week above US$109. “Maybe things got a little bit apocalyptic last week, and they’re just easing off. But obviously the direction of travel in oil prices is still higher, this is just a minor ‌correction,” IG chief market ​strategist Chris Beauchamp said. “Then again, the AI ‌demand was cited overnight as the reason why tech stocks have bounced, so the ongoing themes just keep coming back to the ​fore ... it’s just the sort of the dance where one narrative prevails over ⁠the other for the time being,” he added. Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.95 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 climbed 0.81 per cent, Germany’s DAX advanced 0.99 per cent and France’s CAC 40 climbed 0.894 per cent. In Asia, Japanese markets were closed for a holiday, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.18 per cent.    S&P 500 FUTURES 7,761.50+49.00 (0.64%) DOW FUTURES 52,389.00+310.00 (0.60%) TSX 60 FUTURES 2,115.30+12.20 (0.58%) PAST DAY 0.64% 0.60% 0.58% CLOSE, SEPT. 18 5:38 A.M., SEPT. 21 SOURCE: BARCHART Commodities Oil prices slid to their lowest in more than a ​week as investors hoped for diplomatic progress on ‌the Iran war amid this week’s UN meeting and eyed a partial recovery in shipments from Saudi Arabia despite continuing attacks by Yemen’s Houthis. The Brent crude futures contract for November traded at $101.80 a barrel, down 1.96 per cent. The West Texas Intermediate contract for October that is expiring tomorrow fell 1.96 per cent to $98.33 a barrel. “It seems ​that a degree of risk premium is being removed from oil ‌prices on hopes that a diplomatic path to de-escalate the US-Iran war may arrive this week,” said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade. “Whether that hope proves to be warranted or not is another…