Global markets were steady as stalled U.S.-Iran peace talks pointed to further disruption in Middle East energy exports at the start of a busy week of tech earnings reports and central bank decisions.

Investors, however, took notice of an Axios report that said Iran proposed reopening the Strait of Hormuz, while postponing nuclear negotiations.

Wall Street futures were mixed, while TSX futures pointed lower with interest-rate policy decisions coming Wednesday on both sides of the border.

The Bank of Canada is expected to leave interest rates unchanged, continuing to look past the energy price shock that has squeezed consumers at the gas pump but so far not fuelled a broader surge in inflation, Mark Rendell reports.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is also widely expected to leave its benchmark rate unchanged.

In Canada, investors are getting results from Celestica Inc. and TFI International Inc.

On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from Verizon Communications Inc.

“It is an incredibly busy week ahead. Not only are we going to have inevitably another round of geopolitical headlines all over the place, we’ve also got five [interest rate] policy decisions across the G10, we’ve got five of the ’magnificent 7′ [tech giants] reporting, and I think by market cap it’s about 45 per cent of the S&P giving us results this week,” said Michael Brown, senior research strategist at Pepperstone.

Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.26 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 climbed 0.14 per cent, Germany’s DAX advanced 0.62 per cent and France’s CAC 40 rose 0.4 per cent.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 1.38 per cent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.2 per cent.

 Oil prices were on the rise as peace talks between the U.S. and Iran were at a stalemate while shipments through the Strait of Hormuz remained limited, keeping global oil supplies tight.

Brent crude futures rose 2.3 per cent to US$107.80 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate was at US$96.37 a barrel, up 2.1 per cent.

In other commodities, spot gold fell 0.1 per cent at US$4,7104.01 an ounce. U.S. gold futures for June delivery dropped 0.4 per cent to US$4,719.90.

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

The day range on the loonie was 73.07 US cents to 73.50 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was up about 2.3 per cent against the greenback over the past month.

The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, fell 0.22 per cent to 98.32. The U.S. dollar traded at $1.3611.

The euro gained 0.17 per cent to US$1.1742. The British pound climbed 0.12 per cent to US$1.3551.

In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last up at 4.322 per cent.

Bank of Japan’s monetary policy meeting (through Tuesday)

China’s industrial profits

Germany’s consumer confidence and retail sales

10:30 a.m. ET: U.S. Dallas Fed Manufacturing Activity index for April.

With Reuters and The Canadian Press