December, 9th 2016

Daily Market Commentary

 

 

 

Economic News:

  • S. stock-index futures were little changed as investors assessed a rally that’s putting the S&P 500 Index on course for its biggest weekly gain since the presidential election in November.
  • Banks boosted European stocks to their highest level since January after the European Central Bank altered the parameters of its asset-purchase program in a move that may boost lender profitability

Commodities:

  • Metals: Gold: 1164.84 (-$5.94, -0.51%), Silver: 17.01 (-$0.01, -0.04%); Copper: 2.6490 (+0.87%); Zinc: 1.2356 (+1.30%)
  • Energy: Crude: 51.30 (+0.90%); Brent: 54.21 (+0.59%); Nat Gas: 3.74 (+1.24%)
  • Gold is heading for a fifth consecutive weekly loss, the longest run since November 2015, as the Federal Reserve gears up to raise rates, while U.S. equities at record levels lure money out of havens and fund holdings wither.
  • Russia will seek discussions at a planned meeting with OPEC on Saturday about how the group will fully comply with production cuts, following an increase in its November oil output, said a government official. Russia will fulfill its pledge to cut production by as much as 300,000 barrels a day, if the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries follows through on its commitment to curb output to 32.5 million barrels a day from January.

Canada:

  • Lululemon Athletica Inc. soared as much as 14 percent in late trading after third-quarter earnings blew past analysts’ estimates and sales showed signs of strengthening as the yoga wear maker heads into the holiday season.
  • Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is widely expected to raise its $3.8-billion (U.S.) bid for a U.S. bank, and the question now is whether CIBC can close the ground-breaking deal without overpaying

 

United States:

  • Patrick Drahi’s Altice NV plans to take its U.S. cable-TV business public in the second quarter as it gears up for acquisition opportunities raised by Donald Trump’s election and the pending merger of AT&T Inc. and Time Warner Inc.
  • Wells Fargo & Co.’s attempt to force aggrieved customers into closed-door arbitration over its fake-accounts scandal is drawing a legislative backlash in its home state of California and risks subjecting the bank to another round as a public punching bag.

 

International:

  • National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. plans to file a draft prospectus this month for an initial public offering of about 100 billion rupees ($1.5 billion), pushing ahead with the nation’s biggest listing in more than six years after its top executive resigned.
  • The European Union moved closer to tighter oversight of the bloc’s 1 trillion euro ($1.1 trillion) money-fund industry as policy makers struck a compromise on restrictions designed to shore up market stability. Negotiators for the EU’s 28 member states and the European Parliament reached an agreement on draft regulations to protect funds and investors against runs in stressed market conditions.
  • Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA asked the European Central Bank for more time to put together a 5 billion-euro ($5.4 billion) capital increase it needs to avoid a state bailout that would impose losses on shareholders and bondholders.
  • German regulators are investigating whether Porsche illegally manipulated fuel economy data on its vehicles, potentially opening a new front in parent Volkswagen AG’s emissions-cheating scandal.
  • Eight months after Deutsche Bank AG settled a lawsuit claiming it manipulated gold and silver prices, documents it disclosed as part of the accord provide “smoking gun” proof that UBS Group AG, HSBC Holdings Plc, Bank of Nova Scotia and other firms rigged the silver market, plaintiffs claim.
  • British Land Co. and GIC Pte, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, are considering developing a shopping mall at London’s Broadgate office complex as they seek to become less dependent on financial services tenants
  • Qatar, the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, is investing alongside the billionaire’s Glencore Plc in an $11 billion deal to buy 19.5 percent of Russia’s Rosneft PJSC. The Qatar Investment Authority is part of a group of investors that on Thursday agreed to take a 61 percent stake in the U.K. gas-distribution business of National Grid Plc.
  • SoftBank Group Corp. has decided to place the headquarters of its $100 billion technology private equity group in the hedge fund heartland of London, and has begun hiring investment advisers.
  • Sibanye Gold Ltd. agreed to pay more than its market value for Stillwater Mining Co. in a $2.2 billion deal that would see the South African miner take charge of the world’s highest-grade deposit of platinum-group metals.

 

*All sources from Bloomberg unless otherwise specified