Before the Bell is taking a break for Canada Day and will return Wednesday July 2.

World shares held just below recent record highs on Monday as the revival of trade talks between Canada and the U.S. helped risk sentiment. Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar dipped on the prospect of this week’s U.S. jobs data ushering in an earlier Fed rate cut.

Canada on Sunday said it had rescinded its digital services tax in a bid to advance trade negotiations, bowing to pressure from President Donald Trump.

Wall Street futures showed some gains.

Japan’s Nikkei share average closed at a more than 11-month high on Monday as investor risk appetite grew after a strong rally in U.S. equities, driven by hopes for trade talks and Federal Reserve’s rate cuts. The Nikkei rose 0.84 per cent to close at 40,487.39, its highest closing level since July 17.

“There are still uncertainties surrounding U.S. tariff policy and geopolitical risks as well as the policy of central banks,” said Takeo Kamai, head of execution services at CLSA in Tokyo.

“But that has become a new normal. The Nikkei is strong enough to head towards the next milestone of around the 42,000 level,” he said.

“We have been surprised at just how resilient markets have been in the face of a tremendous amount of uncertainty,” Kevin Gardiner, global investment strategist at Rothschild & Co, said.

“Markets continue to look resilient, though we note that we haven’t seen equity valuations look more expensive since 2000,” he added.

Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.27 per cent. Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.22 per cent and France’s CAC 40 was down 0.21 per cent while Germany’s DAX was down 0.22 per cent.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.87 per cent.

Oil prices held steady on Monday as Middle East risks eased while a possible OPEC+ output increase in August and uncertainty over the global demand outlook weighed on the market.

Brent crude futures were flat at US$67.76 a barrel at 0918 GMT, ahead of the August contract’s expiry later on Monday. The more active September contract was up 17 cents at $66.97.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude edged up by 9 cents, or 0.1 per cent, to $65.61 a barrel.

In other commodities, spot gold rose 0.7 per cent to $3,294.57 per ounce as of 0815 GMT.

The Canadian dollar gained a little against the U.S. dollar.

The day range on the loonie was 72.98 US cents to 73.24 US cents in early trading.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against six rivals, was down 0.16 per cent to 97.24.

The euro dropped 0.03 per cent to US$1.1719. The British pound dropped 0.21 per cent to US$1.3691.

In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was at 4.256 per cent ahead of the North American opening bell.

China PMI

Japan industrial production

ECB forum on central banking in Sintra, Portugal (through Wednesday)

With reports from Reuters