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Investing.com - Canada’s main stock exchange futures traded marginally higher Tuesday, with sentiment helped by a positively-received meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington to discuss potential peace.
By 07.00 ET (11:00 GMT), the S&P/TSX 60 index standard futures contract had inched up by less than a full point, or 0.1%, to 1654.96.
Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index closed Monday 0.1%, or 17 points, higher at 27,922.85.
The meeting to discuss an end to the longstanding conflict between Russia and Ukraine ended with Trump saying that the U.S. would help guarantee Ukraine’s security, but did not specify the terms of any guarantees.
Trump also raised the possibility of trilateral talks, also including Russian President Vladimir Putin, following a meeting with Putin in Alaska last week.
Still, a peace deal appears far from imminent, especially given that Putin has shown little indication of agreeing to a ceasefire. The most significant sticking point is the land that Russia has occupied in fighting, which Ukraine wants back.
At home, investors will focus on the latest Canadian inflation data, with the July CPI index expected to fall to 1.7% on an annual basis, down from 1.9% the prior month.
The Bank of Canada decided late last month to hold its policy rate steady at 2.75%, having cut its policy rate seven consecutive times from June 2024 to March of this year in a bid to boost the economy as inflation showed signs of coming back under control.
Fed’s Bowman set to speak
Away from Canada, there is some U.S. housing data to study Tuesday, in the form of housing starts and building permits for July.
However, most attention is likely to be on a speech by Fed Governor Michelle Bowman later in the session, ahead of the Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole symposium later in the week.
Bowman was one of two dissenting voices favouring a rate cut at last Fed month’s meeting.
Markets are currently indicating an 83% chance for a quarter-point rate cut at the Fed’s next policy meeting in September.
Crude falls after Washington talks
Oil prices fell Tuesday as traders assessed the potential for three-way talks to end the war in Ukraine, which would likely lead to the lifting of sanctions on Russian crude.
At 07:00 ET, Brent futures slipped 1.1% to $65.85 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 1.2% to $61.97 a barrel.
Both contracts rose nearly 1% on Monday after U.S. Trade Adviser Peter Navarro criticized India’s purchases of discounted Russian crude as funding the war, renewing supply flow worries.
Following talks between Trump and Zelensky in Washington, the U.S. president floated the possibility of a subsequent three-way discussion, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, keeping alive hopes for a pathway to negotiations.
Gold prices traded marginally higher as traders mostly kept to the sidelines in want of more cues on a potential Russia-Ukraine peace deal, while anticipation of the Jackson Hole Symposium also spurred caution.
At 07:00 ET, Spot gold rose 0.3% to $3,344.20 an ounce and gold futures for October rose 0.3% to $3,388.50/oz.