November 19th

Daily Market Commentary

 

ECONOMIC NEWS

  • MBA Mortgage Applications in the U.S. were reportedly up 4.9% in November.
  • Building Permits in the U.S. were reportedly up 1.08M in month-over-month terms in October, slightly above estimates.
  • Housing starts in the U.S. came in slightly below estimates at 1.009M for October.
  • Construction Output in the Eurozone was reportedly down 1.8% and down 1.7% in month-over-month and year-over-year terms, respectively, in September.

Commodities:

  • Brent crude rose by the most in three sessions after a car bomb exploded in the Kurdish region of Iraq, OPEC’s second-largest producer. West Texas Intermediate was little changed in New York.
  • Gold traded little changed below a two-week high as the dollar strengthened before the Federal Reserve releases minutes of its latest policy meeting.
  • Iron ore fell for a fifth day, approaching $70 a dry ton in a retreat to the lowest level in more than five years, as rising seaborne supplies fed a glut and Chinese data signalled slowing demand in the largest user.

Canada:

  • Keystone XL pipeline backers came up one vote short in the Senate and vowed to try again in January, when they expect to have enough support to send a bill to President Barack Obama. The 59-41 vote yesterday to approve the pipeline fell below the 60 needed, despite pressure from co-sponsor and Louisiana Democrat Mary Landrieu.
  • Canadian securities regulators are reviewing whether the nation’s largest brokers are increasingly routing equity trades to U.S. dealers to save costs.
  •  Air Canada will add Beijing and Seoul to its list of destinations served by the Boeing 787 Dreamliner from Vancouver as the carrier converts key international routes to the new aircraft. (Globe)

United States:

  • U.S. stock-index futures were little changed, after benchmark gauges extended records yesterday, before a report on housing starts.
  • Paramount Group Inc., an office landlord, raised $2.3 billion in its initial public offering, the largest ever for a U.S. real estate investment trust.
  • Facebook Inc.’s WhatsApp is adding encryption so messages can’t be deciphered when stored or traveling between devices, boosting efforts by technology companies to thwart snooping by hackers and government spies.
  • Target corp. posted third-quarter earnings that beat analysts’ estimates after U.S. sales grew faster than the company expected and its money-losing expansion into Canada showed signs of improvement.

International:

  • European stocks hovered near a seven-week high as investors awaited the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve policy meeting.
  • France’s national financial prosecutor opened a preliminary probe into possible insider trading at BNP Paribas SA, the country’s biggest bank.
  • Asian stocks fell as crude traded near a four-year low, and Chinese shares extended losses amid fading interest in the equity-trading link with Hong Kong.

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