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The Before the Bell report is constantly updated to reflect the latest news developments and market moves in the premarket. Check back later for updates.

With geopolitical tensions still running high this morning in the Middle East and Russia, and North American markets still not far from record high territory, traders are displaying little conviction to broaden equity exposure. U.S. and Canadian stock futures, as well as most Asian and European markets, are all modestly lower, with investors largely gravitating to defensive areas of the market.

International condemnation of Russian President Vladimir Putin is continuing to grow after last week's downing of a Malaysian passenger plane in Ukraine. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday in a television interview that a "buildup of extraordinary circumstantial evidence" suggests Russia is the source of the missile that shot down the plane. European Union foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels Tuesday and will be considering tougher sanctions of Russian individuals and companies as the pressure intensifies for Mr. Putin to take more action on ending violence in the civil conflict.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces are believed to have killed at least 10 Palestinian militants today after they crossed the border from Gaza through two tunnels, as the death toll from the two-week conflict passed 500. The U.N. Secretary Council is calling for an immediate ceasefire but so far, there is no end in sight to the fighting in the region.

There are no fresh major economic reports out today, but more earnings are filtering out, including from Canadian National Railway. So far this earnings season, 25 per cent of the S&P 500's market cap has reported results, with earnings per share growing 9 per cent from a year ago, according to tabulations conducted by RBC.

The S&P 500 has now not seen a pullback of 10 per cent or more - a correction by definition - in more than 1,000 days. Over that time, the S&P 500 has rallied 80 per cent. The current run of 1,019 days is not unprecedented, however. RBC, in a research note this morning, notes that the market has had runs of 2,500 and 1,800 days at two points in the past 25 years. That suggests no major pullback in markets is imminent, especially given the low volatility and below normal risk right now of a recession, said RBC.

Now, here's a closer look at what's going on this morning and what's to come.

MARKETS:

Equities:

Futures: S&P 500 -0.24 per cent; Dow -0.24 per cent; Nasdaq -0.13 per cent; S&P/TSX -0.15 per cent

Hong Kong's Hang Seng -0.29 per cent

Shanghai composite index -0.25 per cent

Japan's Nikkei Closed for holiday

London's FTSE 100 -0.35 per cent

Germany's DAX -0.83 per cent

France's CAC 40 -0.42 per cent

Commodities:

WTI crude oil (Nymex Sep) -0.26 per cent at $101.69 (U.S.) a barrel

Gold (Comex Dec) +0.35 per cent at $1,315.60 (U.S.) an ounce

Copper (Comex Sep) -0.16 per cent at $3.18 (U.S.) a pound

Currencies:

Canadian dollar at 93.06 (U.S.), down 0.0011

U.S. dollar index up 0.03 at 80.55

Bonds:

U.S. 10-year Treasury yield 2.48 per cent, up 0.008

ECONOMIC INDICATORS:

No major reports scheduled.

STOCKS TO WATCH:

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International is filing a complaint with securities regulators in Quebec and the U.S. over allegedly unfair tactics by takeover target Allergan Inc.

BlackBerry has hired a marketing and customer service executive from the cloud and mobile messaging sectors as its new chief operating officer.

SNC-Lavalin has signed a contract with Stornoway Diamonds Inc. estimated at more than $425-million (Canadian) to provide project, engineering and construction management services for a diamond mine located in Quebec's James Bay region.

Allergan Inc, which is fighting off a hostile bid from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc , on Monday said that its second-quarter profit and sales rose, and it announced $475 million in cost cuts. The company said the reductions, which are part of its efforts to convince investors that it is a better value as a stand-alone company, would include 1,500 job cuts by the end of this year.

Halliburton reported Q2 EPS of 91 cents (U.S.), matching Street estimates.

Hasbro reported earnings in line with analysts' estimates although revenues modestly missed Street forecasts.

Other earnings today include: Brookfield Canada Office; Canadian National Railway; PrairieSky Royalties; Boise Cascade; Chipotle Mexican Grill;  Netflix; Six Flags Entertainment; Steel Dynamics; Texas Instruments.

ANALYST ACTIONS:

Raymond James upgraded Toromont Industries to outperform from market perform and raised its price target to $29 (Canadian) from $26.

Raymond James upgraded Cervus Equipment to "outperform" from "market perform" and raised price target to $24 (Canadian) from $22.

JMP Securities upgraded Apple to "market outperform" from "market perform" with a price target of $135 (U.S.).

THIS MORNING'S TOP INVESTING LINKS:

Russia's richest businessmen are increasingly frantic that President Vladimir Putin's policies in Ukraine will lead to crippling sanctions.

This research report suggests we're in the third biggest bubble in U.S. history.

Two rules of thumb for dumping your financial adviser.

Five things you can do today to improve your trading.

One analyst has written Janet Yellen in disagreement over her statement about biotech valuations.

How geopolitical threats affect the stock market.

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For instant headlines on breaking economic and corporate news in the premarket, follow Darcy Keith on Twitter at @eyeonequities.

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