February 27th, 2017

Daily Market Commentary

 

 

 

Economic News:

  • Pending Home Sales in the US were down 2.8% and up 0.4% in month-over-month and year-over-year terms, respectively.
  • Durable goods orders in the US were up 1.8% in January, above expectations; however, they fell 0.2% excluding transports, a figure which was below estimates.

Canada:

  • Canadian stocks plunged the most in five months as earnings and dividend disappointments among gold companies, along with weakening oil prices and trepidation over President Donald Trump’s border tax proposals, erased two-thirds of this year’s rally.

United States:

  • U.S. stock-index futures were little changed, after benchmarks reached record highs, as investors awaited a speech tomorrow by U.S. President Donald Trump that’s expected to provide more details on his policy-making. The S&P 500 added 0.2 percent to its highest ever on Friday amid gains in utilities and phone stocks, and the Dow advanced for an 11th day in its longest rally since January 1992.
  • General Motors Co. boosted incentives on its pickup models this month after its biggest foes gained ground, intensifying a price war within the U.S. auto market’s most hotly contested segment. Incentives on GM’s models surged 56 percent and 82 percent, respectively, from a year earlier as Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NVand Ford Motor Co. dialed back their spending, according to the researcher.
  • AT&T Inc., the second-largest U.S. mobile carrier, is accelerating the roll out of its 5G wireless networks, amid an effort to drive sales and subscriber growth by cross-selling bundles that include a combination of wireless and video services.

International:

  • European stocks steadied after a selloff that pushed them to a two-week low, while worries about French political risks eased following weekend polls. The benchmark dropped on Friday led by a sharp pullback in banks, miners and carmakers as investors questioned whether a rally that pushed equities to a 14-month high had gone too far.
  • Blackstone Group LP and Prudential Plc were picked as preferred bidders for about 12.5 billion pounds ($16 billion) of U.K. mortgages made by failed lender Bradford & Bingley, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.
  • The pound fell against all its major peers after The Times reported that U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May’s team is preparing for Scotland to potentially call for an independence referendum.
  • Deutsche Boerse AG’s $13 billion bid for London Stock Exchange Group Plc headed toward collapse after the U.K. market operator rejected demands by European regulators to sell one of its holdings. LSE said it couldn’t commit to sell its stake in MTS, an electronic trading platform for government bonds, and declined to submit a counter proposal after European Union officials made divesting the unit a condition for approval.
  • The biggest equity rally in Asia this year has yet to captivate global investors. The MSCI China Index, which is dominated by Hong Kong-traded Chinese shares, has surged 11 percent since Dec. 31, its best start to any year since 2012. That’s been fueled by $9 billion of inflows through cross-border trading links as mainland investors seek to diversify from yuan-denominated assets.
  • China, the world’s biggest gold consumer, imported the least amount of bullion in a year from Hong Kong in January as higher prices deterred buyers and the month was shortened by the Lunar New Year holiday.
  • Korean Air Lines Co. is in talks with Delta Air Lines Inc. for a joint venture in a move that would give the second-largest U.S. carrier a bigger foothold in Asia where rising incomes are fueling a boom in air travel.

 

*All sources from Bloomberg unless otherwise specified