May 27th, 2016

Daily Market Commentary

 

ECONOMIC NEWS:

  • Annualized GDP in Q1 in the US was reported at 0.8%, slightly below estimates of 0.9%.

Commodities:

  • Oil trimmed its third weekly advance as Canadian energy producers moved to resume operations after wildfires eased.
  • Gold looks very different from the beginning of May. Along with platinum, palladium and silver, it is heading for the biggest monthly loss since November as investors anticipate higher borrowing costs in the U.S.
  • Copper headed for its first weekly gain this month and other industrial metals advanced after world leaders pledged action to avert a fresh global crisis. Mining stocks were mixed.

Canada:

  • Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. received a takeover approach this spring from Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. and investment firm TPG, which it rejected, the Wall Street Journal reported late Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
  • Canadian stocks were little changed, after a three-day rally that sent shares to the highest level since August, as energy and gold producers slipped while investors weighed earnings from the nation’s largest lenders.

United States:

  • U.S. stock-index futures were little changed, with the S&P 500 on course for its biggest weekly advance since March, as investors awaited a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen for cues on the timing of the next rate increase.
  • Google won a jury verdict that kills Oracle Corp.’s claim to a $9 billion slice of the search giant’s Android phone business and may give comfort to programmers who write applications that run across different platforms without a license.
  • KKR & Co., the investment firm chronicled in “Barbarians at the Gate,” is buckling in for another wild private-equity ride with the possible takeover of the Japanese air-bag maker behind the biggest safety recall ever.

 

International:

  • European stocks hovered near a one-month high, set for a third weekly advance, on growing optimism that the global economy can withstand higher U.S. borrowing costs.
  • A decision by Britain to leave the European Union next month could leave pensioners as much as 300 billion pounds ($440 billion) worse off, the Treasury said in its latest warning about the financial and economic consequences of a so-called Brexit.
  • G-7 nations will use “all policy tools — monetary, fiscal and structural — individually and collectively to strengthen global demand and address supply constraints while continuing our efforts to put debt on a sustainable path,” the group said in a statement Friday after the two-day meeting in Ise-Shima.
  • Orange SA started informal talks with Millicom International Cellular SA to buy some of the emerging-market focused company’s operations in Africa, according to two people familiar with the matter.
  • Asian stocks rose, with the benchmark equities index heading toward its first weekly gain in five weeks, as investors awaited comments from the head of the Federal Reserve. Japanese shares climbed amid speculation the nation will delay a sales tax increase.
  • Toyota Motor Corp. sold its longest yen bond in 18 years Friday as the Bank of Japan pushes down what companies have to pay to borrow longer-term funds.
  • State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender by assets, posted the sharpest profit drop since 2011 as a central-bank audit triggered a surge in provisions for bad loans.

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