October 13th, 2015

Daily Market Commentary

 

ECONOMIC NEWS

  • The Redbook Index, which measures same-store sales growth of US general merchandising companies, was down 0.2% and up 1.1% in month-over-month and year-over-year terms, respectively.
  • The NFIB Business Optimism Index was reported at 96.1, slightly above estimates.
  • A ZEW Survey of Economic Sentiment was reported at 30.1, in line with estimates.
  • A ZEW Survey of economic sentiment in Germany was reported at 1.9, below estimates of a reading of 6

Commodities:

  • Gold fell from the highest in seven weeks as investors weighed the probable timing of the first U.S. interest rate increase since 2006.

Canada:

  • PKN Orlen SA, Poland’s biggest oil company, is expanding its Canadian and Polish operations through two $392 million acquisitions, taking advantage of plunging crude prices. State-controlled Orlen said on Tuesday it will buy Kicking Horse Energy Inc. in a C$356 million ($273 million) transaction to increase its Canada production by more than 4,000 barrels of oil equivalent, or about 60 percent.

United States:

  • Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s U.S. chain is still mired in a sales slump, but the retailer’s Mexican business is a star south of the border.
  • Dell Inc.’s $67 billion buyout of EMC Corp. is shaping up to be a win for nearly everyone involved — except for the data storage company’s bondholders.

 

International:

  • Anheuser-Busch InBev NV closed in on the biggest takeover in U.K. history after proposing to pay almost $106 billion for SABMiller Plc to create a company selling one in every third beer worldwide.
  • Switzerland’s finance ministry will require the country’s biggest banks to have capital equal to about 5 percent of total assets after UBS Group AG and Credit Suisse Group AG sought to win easier terms, according to people briefed on the deliberations.
  • Volkswagen AG will reduce investment spending at its main passenger-car brand by 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) a year and speed up other cost cuts in the wake of a diesel emissions-cheating scandal.
  • Mitsui & Co., Japan’s second-biggest trading house, said it will pull out of overseas precious-metals trading after evaluating the profitability of the business.
  • Qatar Investment Authority sold its 10 percent stake in Hochtief AG for about 540 million euros ($615 million), clearing the path for majority shareholder Actividades de Construccion & Servicios SA to consolidate the German builder into its operations.

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