Investors will get their chance to vote on yesterday’s federal election results when markets open this morning. According to analysts, the prospect of a minority government was largely factored in by markets.

World currency markets have reacted mildly this morning to the election of a Liberal minority government.

At the opening of trading, the Canadian dollar was worth US74.29¢, up 0.03 of a cent.

Investors will likely be paying closer attention to the U.S. Federal Reserve as it begins a two-day meeting today that is expected to culminate in the first U.S. interest rate hike in four years.

The Bank of Canada’s next announcement on interest rates is scheduled for July 20.

In this morning’s economic news, Statistics Canada reported that manufacturers’ prices were up 1.5% in May following an increase of 1% in April.

On a 12-month basis, StatsCan said prices rose 5.5%, the largest increase since October 1995. Meanwhile, prices of raw materials increased 2.9% from April and were 15.0% higher than May 2003.

South of the border, the U.S. Conference Board will release its consumer-confidence index for June at 10:00 ET. Economists expect the index to 95.0.

Asian markets closed lower overnight.

Tokyo’s Nikkei dropped 23.25 points to 11,860.81 points. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 78.3 points to 12,116.3.

North American markets closed lower Monday as Canadian investors awaited the outcome of the federal election, and U.S. investors braced for the latest word on interest rates from the U.S. Federal Reserve later this week.


In Toronto, the S&P/TSX composite index dropped 28.90 points to 8,468.87. The junior S&P/TSX venture composite index slid 12.21 points to 1,572.97.

On Wall Street, the sooner-than-expected transfer of power in Iraq provided some short-lived inspiration earlier in the day. But even the added reassurance about U.S. consumer spending – it rose 1% in May – did little to lift U.S. markets by day’s end.

The Dow Jones industrial average slid 14.75points to 10,357.09. The S&P 500 edged down 1.08 points to 1,133.35, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite Index fell 5.65 points to finish at 2,019.82.

Aside from the interest rate announcement on Wednesday, investors will be looking to the U.S. job report on Friday. Economists are looking for 240,000 jobs to have been created in June.