September 17th, 2015

Daily Market Commentary

 

ECONOMIC NEWS

  • The Q2 U.S. Current Account was reported at $109.7B, far above consensus of a $-$111.3B deficit.
  • Continuing Jobless claims in the U.S. were listed at 2.237M, slightly below estimates.
  • Building permits in the U.S. were up 1.17M in month-over-month terms, slightly above estimates.
  • Initial Jobless Claims in the U.S. were 264K, below estimates and an 8-week low.

Commodities:

  • Oil dropped from its highest closing price this month amid speculation that an unexpected decline in U.S. crude stockpiles doesn’t do enough to ease a global glut.
  • Copper retreated from its highest level in almost two months after reports that Chile’s largest mines had escaped damage from an 8.3-magnitude earthquake in the world’s biggest producer of the mined metal.

Canada:

  • Glencore is in talks with Franco-Nevada, Silver Wheaton, Royal Gold and 2 other cos. to sell part of future output of 3 copper mines in S. America, Reuters reports, citing 2 people familiar with the talks.
  • Investment in renewable energy in Canada almost doubled last year as developers largely in Ontario and Quebec built solar, wind and hydropower projects, Clean Energy Canada said.
  • Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. Chief Executive Officer Jochen Tilk talked up the the benefits of the fertilizer producer’s proposed $8.8 billion takeover of German rival K+S AG while also saying it isn’t “actively engaged” in a bid.

United States:

  • On the day when investors find out if the Federal Reserve is ready to raise rates for the first time in nine years, European stocks lacked direction.
  • General Motors Co has agreed to pay $900-million (U.S.) and sign a deferred-prosecution agreement to end a U.S. government investigation into its handling of an ignition-switch defect linked to 124 deaths, two sources told Reuters.(Globe)
  • Homebuilders spent years waiting for the U.S. jobless rate to fall so that more people would buy houses. Now that employment is up, they’re struggling to meet demand as a scarcity of construction workers worsens.

 

International:

  • Altice NV, billionaire Patrick Drahi’s European cable operator, agreed to acquire Cablevision Systems Corp. in a $17.7 billion deal to create the fourth-largest cable provider in the U.S.
  • The Swiss National Bank kept interest rates at record lows and signaled the recent depreciation of the franc hasn’t diminished its willingness to intervene in currency markets if needed.
  • U.K. retail sales increased in August, as purchases of school uniforms bolstered clothing. Food sales declined.
  • HelloFresh GmbH, a German food-delivery startup backed by the Samwer brothers’ Rocket Internet SE, raised 75 million euros ($85 million) in funding, lifting its valuation to 2.6 billion euros as it seeks to increase its market share and expand further.
  • Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. and Mizuho Financial Group Inc. were among Japanese banks that had their credit ratings cut by Standard & Poor’s following its downgrade of Japan, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. was left unchanged.

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