North America
Canada’s central bank is expected to hold interest rates at 1.75% today as the political crisis engulfing the Trudeau administration is attracting international interest.
Friday’s US non-farm payrolls are the highlight of the economics calendar this week. The US economy is expected to have added 185,000 jobs in February, lower than the 304,000 posts added in January. Canada job figures also due on the same day.
Europe
Markets in Europe shrugged off Asia’s rise, with daily losses in France and Germany. Spain’s IBEX was modestly higher.
The UK’s FTSE 100 made an early push towards 7,200 as sterling softened but this wasn’t sustained as the morning went on.
Legal & General (LGEN) was one of the biggest fallers despite higher full-year profits.
Asia
China’s stock markets pushed higher on Wednesday despite another mixed session on Wall Street and the absence of any concrete news on a US-China trade deal. Both Shanghai and Shenzhen indices rose by more than 1% on the day, continuing the recent positive momentum.
Weaker-than-expected Australian growth figures have rattled global investors, particularly with Australia’s dependence on a slowing Chinese economy.