By James Langton
(September 29 – 9:00 ET) – Markets are set to open weakly today on sluggishness in Europe and Asia. S&P futures have been slightly down to neutral. Traders seem to searching for some direction ahead of next week’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Oct. 5.
Gold and oil prices continued to track up overnight, which may boost a couple of sectors. Gold is opening up another US$6.60 in New York this morning, another 2%, bidding at US$314.50.
In the U.S., durable goods orders came in 0.9% higher for August, a slight surprise on the upside but not enough to have much impact.
In Europe, stocks lacked direction and traders were cautious in light of Tuesday’s performance by the Dow, which traded sharply lower most of the day before a late rally. London’s FTSE 100 is down just 38 points, the CAC 40 is down 23 points in Paris and Germany’s DAX index lost 17
points.
In Asia, uncertainty about the Japanese government’s next move on the yen continues to overhang the market. Everyone seems to be expecting an easing but until it happens traders will be cautious. It was announced overnight that Japanese industrial output was up 4.6% in August, the biggest monthly increase in 42 years. The Nikkei finished the day down 43 points, while the Hang Seng closed down 10 points in sympathy.
In business news, Future Shop said it will create a limited partnership to carry on its e-commerce business, futureshop.com lp. A private placement in the partnership will fund up to $20 million of the development costs. Scotia McLeod Inc., Goepel McDermid Inc. and CIBC World Markets Inc. are running the deal.
And Dia Met Minerals Ltd. said it had a first-half profit of 45¢ a share vs a year-earlier loss of 4¢.