Opening Bell: U.S. Futures Waver Ahead Of Fed Minutes; Oil Slips

The S&P 500 surged 2.15 percent, with all sectors closing in the green and even "laggard" Utilities (+1.03 percent) gaining over a full percentage point. Technology (+3.01 percent) was the clear leader, followed by Communication Services (+2.64 percent). The SPX's aggregate gains from last week’s selloff stands at 3 percent, which pares the drop since the record close of a little over a month ago to 4.3 percent. Technically, the price jumped back over the 200 DMA and is below the 100 DMA.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average leaped even higher, gaining 2.17 percent. All 30 stocks that make up the mega cap industrial index advanced. The total rebound from last week’s selloff is 2.95 percent, which has trimmed the slide since the index's record close two weeks ago to 3.7 percent. Technically, the price jumped back above the 100 DMA and is below the 50 DMA. It crossed back above the 200 DMA last Friday.

The NASDAQ Composite outperformed its peers, climbing 2.89 percent—the most since March. Technically, the price opened above the 200 DMA and advanced toward the 100 DMA. UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) jumped 4.83 percent to a new all-time high, bolstering health care firms, while Adobe's (NASDAQ:ADBE) upbeat forecasts lifted the software maker's stock by a whopping 9.53 percent, a gain of 5.69 percent from the stock's record close two weeks ago.

IBM (NYSE:IBM) slipped lower in late trading as the IT company's revenue missed analyst targets.

The Russell 2000 edged 2.82 percent higher, its sharpest climb since the day after the 2016 presidential election. Technically, it closed below its broken uptrend line since the February 2016 bottom, after being the only major US benchmark to violate that trend line.

So far, stocks have been falling on fear and speculation over ongoing geopolitical issues but gaining on fundamentals. As long as macroeconomic data continues to show an expanding economy and companies keep demonstrating growth, prompting demand to outpace supply as can be seen on the technical charts, stocks should continue to advance.

The only fundamental caveat comes from rising interest rates. Investors will need to decide at what point the cost of borrowing offsets the benefit of economic and company growth. Meanwhile, we can expect continued volatility as investors shift positions according to a fluid decision-making process and speculators react to rumors.

Commodities and FX markets remained steady this morning, ahead of economic data and the EIA oil inventory report.

The dollar is consolidating for a fourth day, following a sideways move on US Treasury yields above 3.1 percent, for the fifth consecutive session.

• Canadian Manufacturing Sales for August are released on Wednesday.

• Minutes from the Fed will be published on Wednesday.
• Also today, the EIA crude oil inventory report is due.
• Euro area CPI was released today.

• Canadian ADP Nonfarm Employment Change is announced Thursday.

• China's third-quarter GDP come out on Friday, in addition to last month’s retail sales and factory output.

Market Moves

Stocks

• Canada’s S&P/TSX Composite rose 1.10 percent Tuesday.

• Futures on the S&P 500 advanced 0.2 percent.
• The STOXX Europe 600 ticked 0.5 percent higher to the highest level in a week.
• The UK’s FTSE 100 edged 0.3 percent higher to the highest level in a week.
• Germany’s DAX gained 0.4 percent to the highest level in more than a week.
• The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 0.9 percent to the highest level in a week.
• The MSCI Emerging Market Index inched 0.3 percent higher to the highest level in more than a week.

Currencies

• The Canadian loonie was down 0.28 percent against the U.S. greenback early Wednesday, trading at 0.7710.

• The Dollar Index gained less than 0.05 percent.
• The euro dropped less than 0.05 percent to $1.1571.
• The British pound climbed less than 0.05 percent to $1.3186.
• The Japanese yen was unchanged at 112.25 per dollar, the strongest level in a week.

Bonds

• Canada’s 10-year yield was down early Wednesday at 2.491. a 0.44-percent decrease.

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries dropped one basis point to 3.16 percent.
• Germany’s 10-year yield slipped two basis points to 0.47 percent, the lowest level in more than two weeks.
• Britain’s 10-year yield slid two basis points to 1.587 percent, hitting the lowest level in two weeks with its fifth straight decline.
• The spread of Italy’s 10-year bonds over Germany’s fell 12 basis points to 2.9624 percentage points to the smallest premium in a week.

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 0.2 percent to $72.09 a barrel, the highest level in a week.
• Gold fell 0.1 percent to $1,223.31 an ounce.