Investing.com – Futures linked to Canada’s main stock index edged lower on Tuesday, as investors braced for an impending U.S. deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
By 08:37 ET (12:37 GMT), the S&P/TSX 60 index standard futures contract had fallen by 6 points, or 0.3%.
Swaying sentiment around the commodity-heavy index was spot gold, which notched marginal gains. Brent crude futures also hovered around $110 a barrel, easing from intraday highs earlier in the session.
On Monday, the TSX composite index finished at an almost four-week high, buoyed by hopes for an end to the more than month-long conflict.
U.S. futures gyrate
U.S. stock market futures whipsawed. By 06:33 ET (10:33 GMT), the Dow futures contract was mostly unchanged, S&P 500 futures had ticked down by 6 points, or 0.1%, and Nasdaq 100 futures had inched down by 43 points, or 0.2%.
All three of the main averages on Wall Street finished the prior session higher, as traders searched for signs of progress in negotiations to end the more than month-long conflict.
While hopes for peace in the Middle East dominated the debate among traders, the war’s impact on the U.S. economy remained in focus. Figures showed that the U.S. services sector expanded at a slower-than-anticipated rate in March, a period which includes most of the fighting. Employment in the crucial industry also contracted and prices paid, an indicator of inflation, spiked to its highest level since October 2022.
At the same time, jitters continued to revolve around the health of the $1.8 trillion private credit market. Shares of Blue Owl Capital, which has become a poster child of these worries, slumped to all-time closing low, after the company said it would limit redemptions from two funds due to an uptick in withdrawal requests.
Oil hovers around $110 a barrel
Oil prices, meanwhile, have maintained elevated levels, as shipping traffic still only trickling through the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude futures, the global benchmark, were last higher by 0.9% at $110.70 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures had jumped by 2.5% to $115.26 a barrel.
The strait, a vital waterway off of Iran’s southern coast through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil passes, has been all but shut off for tankers for weeks, fueling fears over the flow of global crude supplies. Countries in Asia are especially heavy importers of energy products which pass through the strait, while European countries also use natural gas imports from the Persian Gulf.
In a press conference on Monday, Trump stressed that any ceasefire agreement must include a guarantee from Iran to reopen the strait. If Tehran does not do so by Trump’s deadline of 8 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, the president vowed to strike bridges and power plants in Iran so hard that it would take the country “100 years to rebuild.”
