Global markets were lower amid investor caution ahead of a slate of U.S. data, including the jobs report, that may help signal the path for Federal Reserve policy next year.

Wall Street futures were in negative territory after major North American markets closed in the red yesterday. Dow futures were down 0.13 per cent, S&P 500 futures declined 0.19 per cent and Nasdaq futures were 0.31 per cent lower as of 6:25 a.m. ET.

TSX futures followed sentiment lower after sagging oil prices weighed on Canada’s main stock market yesterday.

On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from Lennar Corp.

“The most important question is whether the [jobs] report opens the door for more rate cuts in the early part of next year,” said analysts at Deutsche Bank.

“As it stands, the Fed have only signalled one further cut for 2026 in the dot plot, but we’ve repeatedly seen in this cycle how a softer labour market has pushed them back in a dovish direction.”

Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.11 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 declined 0.45 per cent, Germany’s DAX gave back 0.33 per cent and France’s CAC 40 was flat.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 1.56 per cent lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1.54 per cent.

Oil prices slid, adding to yesterday’s losses, as prospects for a Russia-Ukraine peace deal appeared to strengthen, raising expectations of a potential easing of sanctions.

Brent crude futures fell about 1.8 per cent to US$59.45 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was trading at US$55.71 a barrel, down nearly 2 per cent.

“Brent has dropped this morning to below US$60 per barrel for the first time in months, as the market assesses a potential peace deal resulting in additional Russian volumes becoming available and oversupplying the market further,” said Rystad analyst Janiv Shah.

In other commodities, spot gold slipped 0.3 per cent to US$4,290.33 an ounce. U.S. gold futures were down 0.4 per cent to US$4,306.40 an ounce.

The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart.

The day range on the loonie was 72.55 US cents to 72.66 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was up about 1.58 per cent against the greenback over the past month.

The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, slipped 0.08 per cent to 98.23.

The euro edged up 0.01 per cent to US$1.1756. The British pound rose 0.31 per cent to US$1.3417.

In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was little changed at 4.181 per cent.

Anglo American has received approval from the federal government to acquire Teck Resources, clearing another major hurdle for the deal to close, mining reporter Niall McGee reports.

China PMI

Euro zone PMI and trade surplus

8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. nonfarm payrolls for November. The Street expects an increase of 50,000 from October with the unemployment rate rising 0.1 per cent from the last reading of 4.4 per cent in September and average hourly wages up 3.6 per cent year-over-year. The data from October will also be released following the government shutdown.

8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. retail sales for October. Consensus is a rise of 0.2 per cent month-over-month.

8:30 a.m. ET :U.S. housing starts for November.

8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. building permits for November.

9:45 a.m. ET: U.S. S&P Global PMIs for December.

10 a.m. ET: U.S. business inventories for September.

12:45 p.m. ET: Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem speaks in Montreal, with press conference to follow

With Reuters and The Canadian Press