December 19th

Daily Market Commentary

 

ECONOMIC NEWS

  • The Consumer Price Index in Canada was reportedly down 0.4% and up 2% in month-over-month and year-over-year terms, respectively. Both figures were below estimates.
  • Retail Sales in Canada were reportedly flat in month-over-month terms. Excluding Autos, they were up 0.2%.
  • Wage inflation in Italy was reportedly up 0.1% and 1.1% in month-over-month and year-over-year terms, respectively.

Commodities:

  • Gold traded little changed as it headed for the first weekly decline in three as higher equities and a stronger dollar curbed demand for the metal.
  • Copper rose from a four-year low as investors weighed positive economic signs from the U.S. against a slowdown in China, the largest metals user.

Canada:

  • Enbridge Inc. resumed shipments on its biggest mainline pipe carrying crude from Canada to the U.S. two days after shutting the line because of a leak.
  • The bond market is indicating that Canada risks being left in the wake of the U.S. economic recovery as the country’s reliance on the energy sector weighs on growth prospects with the collapse of crude-oil prices.
  • Canada’s government is considering making more airwaves available for mobile-phone use as data traffic on smartphones and tablets continues to rise.
  • BlackBerry Ltd. reported fiscal third-quarter revenue that fell well short of analysts’ estimates, overshadowing the company’s milestone achievement of generating cash earlier than promised.

United States

  • U.S. stock-index futures pared their gains and were little changed after the Federal Reserve spurred the biggest two-day jump for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index in three years.
  • American Apparel Inc. founder Dov Charney, who was fired by the company this week, is working with private-equity firm Irving Place Capital on a bid to acquire the retailer, according to a person familiar with the situation.
  • Banks added to their wins in Washington this month by getting a reprieve from the Volcker Rule that will let them hold onto billions of dollars in private-equity and hedge-fund investments for at least two more years.

International:

  • European stocks fell, reversing earlier gains, as declines in health-care companies outweighed advances in commodity producers.
  • French President Francois Hollande floated the prospect of scaling back sanctions on Russia, becoming the first major European Union leader to offer to ease the Kremlin’s economic pain.
  • London home prices are losing ground to other U.K. cities as restrictions on mortgage lending deterred buyers in the country’s best-performing market this year.
  • Asian stocks headed for their biggest gain since October amid a global rally. Japan’s Topix index jumped on a weaker yen and Chinese shares surged to a four-year high.
  • Japan’s corporate income tax may be cut by more than 2 percentage points next year, and reduced to less than 30% within five, Economy Minister Akira Amari said.

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