April 3rd, 2017

Daily Market Commentary

 

 

 

Economic News:

  • The RBC Manufacturing PMI figure in Canada was quoted at 55.5, above estimates.
  • The US ISM Manufacturing PMI was quoted at 57.2, above estimates.
  • One year total US Vehicle Sales were listed at 16.62M in March, far below estimates.
  • The Eurozone Unemployment Rate was quoted at 9.5%, in line with estimates.
  • The EU Markit Manufacturing PMI was quoted at 56.2, in line with estimates.

Canada:

  • Canadian stocks ranked 21st among the world’s developed markets in the first quarter, an ignominious performance that investors don’t expect to improve much for the rest of the year — unless oil bolts higher again.
  • In Toronto, some homebuyers are so desperate to win bidding wars that they’re rushing to make offers without even getting an inspection. The average price for a detached home in Canada’s largest metropolitan area jumped to C$1.21 million ($905,950) in February, up a third from a year earlier, amid a dearth of properties for sale.

United States:

  • Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc is considering a sale of its food business, which makes French’s mustard and ketchup, to help pay for the $16.6 billion acquisition of infant-formula maker Mead Johnson Nutrition Co.
  • Tesla Inc. set a record for deliveries and production in the first quarter, beating analysts’ estimates as Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk prepares to begin building the Model 3 in July.

International:

  • Gains in commodity producers pushed European stocks higher after the region’s equities completed a third straight quarterly advance. Miners rose the most in Europe, rebounding from Friday losses, while energy shares tracked crude prices higher.
  • Euro-area unemployment fell to the lowest in almost eight years and a measure of manufacturing accelerated as factories in the region’s biggest economies benefited from improving global growth.
  • BP Plc agreed to sell the Forties pipeline, one of the most important pieces of oil infrastructure in the U.K. North Sea, to Ineos AGfor $250 million. Ineos will make a cash payment of $125 million on completion and transfer a share of future earnings up to $125 million over seven years.
  • Asian shares advanced after the best quarter in five years as Japanese shares gained on the first trading day of the fiscal year amid improved confidence among manufacturers.
  • Making the world’s biggest city beautiful is a task Japan’s beleaguered Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings Inc. is unlikely to relish. The company known as Tepco, which faces $144 billion in clean up costs for the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown, has been assigned with removing hundreds of thousands of utility poles across Tokyo so visitors to the 2020 Olympics can enjoy uninterrupted views of its famous cherry blossoms and neon-lit streets.

*All sources from Bloomberg unless otherwise specified