Bay Street Likely To Open Lower On Weak Commodity Prices

(RTTNews) - Canadian shares are likely to open weak on Tuesday on lower crude oil and gold prices.

The mood is likely to remain cautious with investors awaiting earnings from tech giants Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet and Meta Platforms for directional cues.

Investors also await a slew of upcoming Fed, ECB and BOE meetings due over the next two weeks.

The Canadian market ended slightly weak on Monday after a lackluster session.

The mood in the market remained cautious as investors awaited earnings announcements from major U.S. tech firms including Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc, and data on U.S. consumer confidence, durable goods orders, first quarter GDP and personal income & spending.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a marginal loss of 16.41 points or 0.08% at 20,676.74, after moving between 20,643.22 and 20,709.58.

Asian stocks ended mostly lower in thin trading on Tuesday, with Australian and New Zealand markets closed for a public holiday. Increasing anxiety about high interest rates and tightening economic conditions weighed on stocks.

European stocks remain weak despite coming off early lows as investors fret about the outlook for economic growth and await earnings from U.S. heavyweights Microsoft Corp and Google-owner Alphabet later in the day.

Meanwhile, banking jitters returned to the fore after U.S. lender First Republic Bank said its deposits tumbled more than $100 billion last quarter and that it was exploring options such as restructuring its balance sheet.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures are down $0.51 or 0.65% at $78.25 a barrel.

Gold futures are down $9.10 or 0.46% at $1,990.70 an ounce, while Silver futures are lower by $0.646 or 2.55% at $24.665 an ounce.