February 6th, 2015

Daily Market Commentary

 

ECONOMIC NEWS

  • The unemployment rate in Canada was reported at 6.6%, slightly below estimates of 6.7%.
  • The Participation Rate in Canada was reported at 65.7%, in line with estimates.
  • The net change in employment in January was reported at 35.4K, far above estimates of 4.5K.
  • Building permits in Canada were reportedly up 7.7%, above estimates of 5%.
  • Nonfarm payrolls in the U.S. were reportedly up 257K, above estimates of 234K.
  • Average hourly earnings in the U.S. were reportedly up 0.5% and 2.2% in month-over-month and year-over-year terms, respectively.
  • The labour force participation rate in the U.S. was reported at 62.9%, slightly above the last announcement of 62.7%.
  • The unemployment rate in the U.S. was reported at 5.7%, slightly above estimates of 5.6%.

Commodities:

  • Oil headed for the biggest two-week rally since March 1998 in London as price volatility rose to the highest in almost six years.
  • Gold is poised for the first two-week decline since October before data expected to show that American employers added more than 200,000 jobs last month.
  • Copper is set to snap its longest run of weekly declines in more than six years before data that will signal the pace of growth in the U.S. and China, the world’s two biggest metals consumers.

Canada:

  • There are no surprise bidders for two auctions of cellular spectrum the Canadian government plans to hold in the coming months. The three national carriers – BCE Inc., Telus Corp. and Rogers Communications Inc. – all registered to bid in both auctions, as did regional players Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. and Tbaytel. (Globe)
  • BCE posted a better than expected fourth-quarter profit, on higher revenue, and hiked its dividend by just over 5%.
  • Manitoba Telecom Services’ fourth-quarter revenue and earnings missed analyst expectations. The telecom company didn’t offer guidance for 2015.
  • Gildan Activewear reported a loss for the quarter ended January 4th and announced plans to split its shares on a 2-for-1 basis.

United States

  • U.S. stock-index futures were little changed, with equities poised for their biggest weekly gain this year, before a monthly payrolls report as investors weighed earnings.
  • Twitter Inc., which posted disappointing fourth-quarter user growth, gave a surprising reason for the slowdown: Apple Inc.’s new mobile software.
  • Sprint’s loss widened in its December quarter on a heavy impairment charge, though the wireless carrier los fewer of the industry’s most lucrative subscribers in the period.

International:

  • European stocks fell for the first time in five days, paring a weekly advance.
  • Sunrise Communications AG rose on its trading debut after Switzerland’s second-largest wireless carrier raised 2 billion Swiss francs ($2.2 billion) in the biggest initial public offering on the country’s stock exchange in eight years.
  • Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc has firmed up plans to sell or wind down its Asian corporate banking business within months, according to a person familiar with the process.
  • Rocket Internet AG, the startup investor founded by Germany’s Samwer brothers, bought a minority stake in Delivery Hero that values the four-year-old online food takeaway service at almost $2 billion.
  • Asian stocks followed U.S. equities higher, with the regional benchmark index extending its weekly advance, as materials and energy shares gained amid higher oil prices.
  • China has made progress letting the yuan appreciate and Japan’s policies resulting in a weaker yen don’t qualify as ‘unfair’, Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew told lawmakers concerned that the nation’s manipulate their currencies.

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