April 6th, 2015

Daily Market Commentary

 

ECONOMIC NEWS

  • The unemployment change in Spain was reportedly down 60.2K.
  • The Leading Economic Index in Japan was reported at 105.3, slightly above estimates.

Commodities:

  • Oil rose as Iran’s nuclear accord with world powers left the timing uncertain for a possible increase in crude supplies from the OPEC member and as Saudi Arabia raised prices for shipments to Asia, its biggest regional market.
  • Gold climbed to the highest in almost seven weeks as the U.S. may delay raising interest rates. Platinum rose to a one-month high as palladium and silver gained.
  • Refiners are poised to make gasoline at a record pace this year, keeping the biggest U.S. crude glut in more than 80 years from overflowing storage.

Canada:

  • With an unexpected interest-rate cut and sometimes shifting takes on the economic outlook, Poloz has injected something rarely seen in Canadian markets: volatility. A gauge of bond market price swings is at least a two-decade high amid differences among investors over the direction of rates after a extended period when the central bank left no mystery about its next move.
  • Goldcorp Inc. has preliminary agreement to sell its 40% interest in a Nevada project to Premier Gold Mines Ltd. (Globe)

United States

  • U.S. stock-index futures slid, signalling the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will decline, after a report showed employers hired the fewest workers in more than a year.
  • The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta started the year predicting 1.9% growth for the first quarter. Last week, they cut that forecast to zero. (CNN)
  • The reporting season kicks off Wednesday with Aluminium Company Alcoa. Profits for S&P 500 companies are expected to fall for the first time since late 2012. (CNN)
  • EBay Inc.’s once-loyal merchants are moving more of their business to Amazon.com Inc., saying they get more for their money by selling merchandise via the Web retailer. Amazon’s pool of merchants doubled to about 2 million in 2014, while the number of sellers on EBay has remained flat at 25 million in the past two years.

International:

  • Japanese stocks fell after data showed the weakest U.S. employment growth in more than a year, sending the yen higher and spurring declines in the nation’s exporters.
  • Toshiba Corp. fell the most in more than a year after the company said it would appoint a committee to investigate possible problems with its accounting.
  • Sharp Corp. rose the most in more than a year in Tokyo after a person familiar with the matter said the company plans to ask a government-backed fund for help in spinning off part of its liquid-crystal display business.

*All information is taken from Bloomberg, unless otherwise noted.