June 4th, 2014
Daily Market Commentary
ECONOMIC NEWS
- Canadian Exports and Imports were reported at $42.83B and $43.36B, respectively. Exports were slightly below estimates, while imports were slightly above.
- MBA Mortgage Applications in the U.S. were reported at -3.1%.
- The ADP Employment Change in the U.S. was reported at 179K, below estimates of 210K.
- Nonfarm productivity in the U.S. was reportedly down 3.2%, below estimates of -2.7%.
- GDP in the Eurozone was reported at 0.2% and 0.2% in quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year terms, respectively. Both estimates were in line with estimates.
Commodities:
- West Texas Intermediate rose for a second day after an industry report showed crude inventories declined in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer. Brent climbed in London amid reports of worsening security in eastern Libya.
- Gold traded near a four-month low in London as investors weighed gains in the dollar against speculation bullion’s decline may attract more buying. Platinum slipped to the lowest price in three weeks.
- Copper headed for the biggest drop in seven weeks in London amid gains by the dollar and reports of a probe of metals warehousing at China’s Qingdao port that fuelled concern about credit expansion in the nation.
Company News:
Canada:
- Canada’s central bank will probably signal today it’s staying focused on a weak economy that’s restraining price increases for most goods rather than surging energy costs that it regards as transitory. Governor Stephen Poloz will keep the overnight lending rate at 1 percent, where it has been for 30 straight meetings since September 2010, in a decision due from Ottawa at 10 a.m., according to all 21 economists in a Bloomberg News survey.
- Canaccord Genuity Group Inc., Canada’s largest non-bank brokerage, said fiscal fourth-quarter profit tripled, beating analysts’ estimates, on improved business in its U.S. and U.K. operations.
United States:
- U.S. stock-index futures declined before a report that may show companies in the world’s largest economy added fewer workers last month.
- Lenovo Group Ltd. and International Business Machines Corp. have sought more time for a U.S. national-security review of Lenovo’s planned purchase of IBM’s low-end server unit, according to a person familiar with the matter.
- Markit Ltd., the financial information company whose price data forms the basis for much of the global derivatives and bond markets, is seeking to raise as much as $1.14 billion in its U.S. initial public offering.
- McGraw Hill Financial Inc.’s Standard & Poor’s unit lost its bid to consolidate state claims that it lied about the objectivity of its ratings in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis, forcing it to fight lawsuits in 18 state courts.
International:
- European stocks fell for a second day as investors weighed data on the euro-area economic growth for clues to European Central Bank’s policy decision tomorrow and awaited data on American jobs.
- CVC Capital Partners Ltd. and KKR & Co. are considering bids for units to be sold by cement makers Holcim Ltd. and Lafarge SA to win regulatory approval for their planned 29 billion-euro ($40 billion) merger.
- Asian stocks fell, with the regional benchmark index retreating from a seven-month high, as investors await a report on U.S. jobs and a decision from the European Central Bank on monetary policy.
- Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co. will buy Protective Life Corp. for about 582.2 billion yen ($5.7 billion) to expand into the faster-growing U.S. market, marking the biggest foreign acquisition by a Japanese life insurer.
