December 15th, 2015
Daily Market Commentary
ECONOMIC NEWS
- Manufacturing Shipments in Canada were reportedly down 1.1% in month-over-month terms.
- The US Consumer Price Index was flat in month-over-month terms in November.
- The Redbook Index, which measures same-store sales growth of US General Merchandising companies, was down 0.8% and up 1.5% in month-over-month and year-over-year terms, respectively.
Commodities:
- If onshore storage tanks fill, WTI may need to slump to “high $20s” to force producers to curb output, managing director Ed Morse says in report.
Canada:
- Bond investors are testing Stephen Poloz’s optimism that the Canadian economy is heading for recovery. Odds that the Bank of Canada will cut its benchmark interest rate by May jumped to 25 percent Tuesday from 6.2 percent Monday as a deepening commodity rout weighs on the outlook for the resource-heavy economy.
- McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada Ltd. is launching on Wednesday its first standalone McCafé in a bustling concourse at Toronto’s Union Station, betting on luring younger consumers with a wider offering of healthier-sounding products, an all-day breakfast and no hamburgers and fries. (Globe)
United States:
- Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., under scrutiny for its drug-pricing practices, agreed to sell its skin and eye medicines through Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. and cut their price, according to a company document seen by Bloomberg.
- National Bank of Canada has paid $15 million for a 10.5 percent stake in the holding company that controls XacBank LLC, one of Mongolia’s top four banks.
- AGT Food and Ingredients Inc., the world’s largest exporter of peas and other pulses, wanted to make sure its products didn’t get stuck on the Canadian Prairie again — so it bought a railroad.
- Iamgold says employees at Rosebel Gold Mine in Suriname end strike, mine has resumed production.
International:
- European stocks rebounded from a 10-week low as investors brace for what will likely be the Federal Reserve’s first rate increase in almost a decade. U.S. stock-index futures rose. Gold gained.
- Hennes & Mauritz AB reported revenue that missed analysts’ estimates as unseasonably mild weather weighed on demand in North America and Europe.
- German investor confidence improved for a second consecutive month, with a robust recovery in Europe’s largest economy set to gain impetus from more stimulus by the European Central Bank.
- K. inflation edged back above zero in November for the first time in four months, a move that still leaves the rate a long way from the Bank of England’s target.
- Volkswagen AG suffered its biggest decline in monthly European market share since the German carmaker’s scandal over emissions manipulation emerged in September.
- Tesco Plc’s sales continued to worsen in the run up to Christmas as the U.K.’s largest supermarket chain bore the brunt of competition from discounters Aldi and Lidl.
- Asian stocks fell, with the regional benchmark index poised for its lowest level in 10 weeks, amid concern over turbulence in the credit markets.
- Sumitomo Mitsui Finance & Leasing Co. agreed to buy General Electric Co.’s Japanese leasing business for about $4.8 billion, rounding off the country’s biggest year for acquisitions since 2012.
- Japan’s 135 trillion yen ($1.1 trillion) Government Pension Investment Fund is building up its alternative investment department after raising bets on infrastructure projects more than 10-fold to secure higher returns than low-yielding bonds.
*All information is taken from Bloomberg, unless otherwise noted.