January 21st, 2015

Daily Market Commentary

 

ECONOMIC NEWS

  • Wholesale sales in Canada were reportedly down 0.3% in month-over-month terms, which was slightly below estimates.
  • The Redbook index, which measures same-store sales growth in general merchandisers in the U.S., was reportedly down 3.5% and up 3% in month-over-month and year-over-year terms, respectively.
  • MBA Mortgage Applications in the U.S. were reportedly up 14.2%.
  • Zero Bank of England MPs voted to raise rates, as well as zero voting to cut rates, which came as a slight surprise. 2 members were expected to vote for a rate hike.

Commodities:

  • Oil rebounded from the biggest drop in a week amid signs that prices near a 5 1/2-year low are slowing drilling in the U.S., the fastest-growing producer.
  • Gold exceeded $1,300 an ounce for the first time since August on speculation slowing global growth will prompt central banks to boost stimulus, spurring haven demand.
  • Refined copper output in China, the world’s largest producer, surged to a record last year as smelting capacity expanded amid ample supply from global miners.

Canada:

  • The bond market is suggesting an overheated Canadian housing market is about to get even hotter just in time for the spring thaw. Five-year bond yields are at a record low.
  • Bombardier Inc. said it has the financial resources to cover the costs to develop its Global 7000 and 8000 business aircraft and the CSeries jetliner.
  • Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. and Dream Unlimited Corp. formed a real estate joint venture to develop about 30 of the railroad’s properties in Canada and the U.S.

United States

  • U.S. stock-index futures were little changed, as investors considered earnings reports to gauge equity valuations.
  • For IBM, converting to the cloud is taking a toll. Even though it’s necessary to drive future growth, the company has to sacrifice profits for now.
  • Carl Icahn was delayed about two weeks in his quest to expand his gambling holdings in Atlantic City, New Jersey, by purchasing two casinos owned by bankrupt Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc.
  • U.S. President Barack Obama declared the U.S. economy healed and said the nation now must begin work to close the gap between the well-off and the wanting.

International:

  • European stocks halted a four-day rally that took them to a seven-year high.
  • BHP Billiton Ltd., the biggest overseas investor in U.S. shale, will cut the number of its rigs there by about 40 percent as plunging petroleum prices add to concerns about lower iron ore earnings.
  • The European Union is investigating whether high frequency traders provide liquidity that benefits financial markets as a whole in the 28-nation bloc.
  • Asian stocks advanced as technology and financial shares climbed ahead of a European Central Bank meeting. Chinese shares jumped the most in more than five years.
  • Samsung Electronics Co. will use its own microprocessors in the next version of the Galaxy S smartphone, dropping its use of a Qualcomm Inc. chip that overheated during the Korean company’s testing.
  • Japan’s central bank cut its inflation forecast and kept its unprecedented monetary easing unchanged as tumbling oil prices handicap efforts to reflate the world’s third-biggest economy.

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