February 8th, 2016
Daily Market Commentary
ECONOMIC NEWS:
- Building Permits in Canada were up 11.3% in month-over-month terms, far above estimates.
- The Sentix Investor Confidence survey for the Eurozone was reported at 6, below estimates of 7.6.
Commodities:
- Oil traded near $31 a barrel after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela met to discuss cooperating to stabilize the market and U.S. data signalled investors are split on the direction for prices.
- Gold fell from the highest level since October after the U.S. jobless rate slid to a 2008 low and hourly earnings rose more than estimated, bolstering the case for the Federal Reserve to tighten monetary policy
- Nickel fell to the lowest level in almost 13 years as copper extended Friday’s decline.
Canada:
- Laurentian Bank of Canada is the latest small lender to answer the federal government’s call to the mortgage-backed securities market in attempts to increase competition.
- National Bank of Canada said it will write off the full C$165 million ($119 million) carrying value of its stake in Maple Financial Group Inc., after that company’s operations in Germany were limited by regulators amid a tax probe.
United States:
- U.S. index futures dropped, indicating the rout that sent the Nasdaq Composite Index to its lowest level since October 2014 will deepen.
International:
- European shares declined to their lowest level since October 2014 as investors fretted over global growth prospects.
- Randgold Resources Ltd., the best performer in the U.K.’s benchmark stock index this year, said fourth-quarter profit fell 10 percent as increased production failed to offset lower gold prices.
- Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA surged in early Paris trading after the 3.1 billion-euro ($3.5 billion) sale of its controlling stake in Thai supermarket chain Big C Supercenter Pcl eased concern over the grocer’s finances.
- Japanese stocks rose after a U.S. payrolls report supported the Federal Reserve’s case to raise U.S. interest rates, sending the dollar higher against the yen and boosting the earnings outlook of Japanese exporters.
- India’s government has asked state-run companies to buy back shares, people with knowledge of the matter said, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi looks to narrow Asia’s widest budget deficit without cutting stimulus spending.
*All information is taken from Bloomberg, unless otherwise noted.