January 19th, 2015

Daily Market Commentary

 

ECONOMIC NEWS

  • Foreign portfolio investment in Canadian securities in November was reported at $4.29B.
  • Canadian portfolio investment in foreign securities was reported at $1.83B.
  • Construction Output  in the Eurozone was reportedly up 0.1% and 2.2% in month-over-month and year-over-year terms, respectively.

Commodities:

  • Oil declined from a one-week high in London and New York as Iraqi production advanced to a record, compounding a global crude surplus.
  • Gold traded at the biggest premium to platinum since April 2013 as bullion was near a four-month high amid demand for a haven.
  • Copper in London climbed for a third day as China boosts infrastructure spending to spur economic growth in the world’s largest consumer of the metal.

Canada:

  • Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz will remain in interest-rate hibernation for another year as plunging oil prices raise concerns the nation’s economic growth is in jeopardy, economists say.
  • HudBay Minerals said it plans a 2015 capital-spending budget of about $425 million, down about 60% from 2014. It also said total copper production in 2014 was below guidance due to nominal copper concentrate output at its Constancia mine in Peru in late 2014.

United States

  • Wall Street’s top lobbying group said President Barack Obama’s plan to raise $110 billion over the next decade through a new tax on financial companies could stifle economic growth and make banks less likely to lend. The proposal released Saturday would impose a seven-basis-point fee on the liabilities of the nation’s biggest banks, investment firms and insurers.
  • Uber Technologies Inc. will begin directing users to a cab company in South Korea’s third-largest city as the car-sharing service adjusts its business model to comply with local regulations
  • Intel said its fourth-quarter income jumped 39% on improved demand for its PC and server system chips, but it offered a cautious first-quarter outlook.
  • Dish Network reached a new distribution agreement with 21st Century Fox’s Fox News and is putting the channel back on its satellite-TV service, which has more than 14M subscribers, the companies said.

International:

  • European stocks were little changed, paring earlier gains, amid investor expectations the European Central Bank will announce a plan for quantitative easing this week.
  • Deutsche Telekom AG, Europe’s largest phone company, plans to increase spending on networks in its home market of Germany to ward off rivals including Vodafone Group Plc and Telefonica SA.
  • Mario Draghi is likely to announce a $635 billion bond-purchase program this week and won’t skimp too much on the details, economists say.
  • Asian stocks rose as materials shares led gains and U.S. consumer confidence jumped to an 11-year high. Chinese equities slumped after three of the nation’s biggest brokerages were stopped from adding margin-trading accounts.
  • China’s biggest brokerages are getting squeezed on two fronts as regulators curb loans to equity traders. Not only does the three-month ban on new margin-trading accounts at Citic Securities Co. and Haitong Securities Co. reduce their potential earnings from lending to clients, it also curbs one of the biggest buyers of the firms’ own shares: margin traders.

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