January, 6th 2017

Daily Market Commentary

 

 

Economic News:

  • European stocks declined, skimming gains from the first week of the year, as investors awaited a report on U.S. payrolls for clues on the outlook for the world’s biggest economy.
  • S. index futures held steady before a jobs report that economists forecast will show little change in the pace of labor-market growth.
  • Euro-area economic confidence jumped to the highest since 2011 at the end of last year after the European Central Bank extended its stimulus and the recovery in the 19-nation region showed further signs of strengthening.
  • The dollar rebounded as Treasuries fell before U.S. data expected to show sustained growth in hiring. Global stocks headed for the best start to the year since 2013.

 

 

 

Commodities:

  • Metals: Gold: 1177.48 (-$2.64, -0.22%), Silver: 16.49 (-$0.09, -0.57%); Copper: 2.5300 (-0.30%); Aluminum: 0.7778 (+0.73%); Nickel: 4.6576 (-0.24%); Zinc: 1.1825 (-0.40%)
  • Energy: Crude: 54.12 (+0.67%); Brent: 57.30 (+0.72%); Nat Gas: 3.24 (-1.10%)
  • Oil headed for a fourth weekly increase in New York after U.S. crude stockpiles declined more than forecast and Saudi Arabia joined other OPEC members in cutting production to stabilize the market.
  • Gold drops for first time in 4 days as dollar steadies before key monthly U.S. jobs report.
  • S. ethanol production margins have plunged to a five-month low after output rose to a record. Ethanol companies increased their run-rates on the back of cheap corn, which is used to make the biofuel.
  • Indonesia, the world’s top exporter of coal used in power stations, lowered its benchmark price for January, the first reduction in eight months.

 

 

 

Canada:

  • The Canadian government says it won’t grant extensions to exploration licenses for Exxon Mobil Corp., BP Plc and other oil firms as it prepares for consultations over the impact of an Arctic drilling moratorium. The companies hold leases that expire over the next six years, totaling C$1.9 billion ($1.4 billion) in bids.
  • Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reached an agreement to continue accepting Visa Inc. credit cards in Canada, ending the retailer’s threat to bar the world’s largest payments network from its 409 stores in the country.
  • Canadians bought a record number of cars and trucks last year, adding those big-ticket purchases to gains in the housing market that have propped up the economy. Light vehicle sales rose 2.6 percent to 1.95 million in 2016.
  • The Canadian dollar will strengthen in 2017 as the country’s economy accelerates in the second half of the year and worries over U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s trade policies fade, according to the most accurate forecaster of the currency. The loonie will nudge an additional 0.75 percent higher to C$1.32 per U.S. dollar by the end of the year.

 

 

 

United States:

  • Rex Tillerson, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for U.S. secretary of state, disclosed assets worth as much as $400 million in a federal ethics filing that reflected investments spanning more than a dozen nations. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Tillerson will recuse himself for a year from government decisions involving Exxon Mobil Corp., where he served as chairman and chief executive officer until Jan. 1.
  • Apple Inc. is planning to invest $1 billion in SoftBank Group Corp.’s giant new technology fund, adding its name to a growing list of interested parties and giving the iPhone maker a new avenue to tap up-and-coming technologies.
  • Sanofi shares slumped the most in more than six months after Amgen Inc. won a court ruling blocking the drugmaker and partner Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. from selling their cholesterol-lowering medicine Praluentin the U.S. because it infringes Amgen’s patents covering a rival treatment.
  • Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. is set to launch 10 Iridium communications satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, possibly as soon as Sunday, marking the company’s return to flight after its Falcon 9 rocket blew up on a Florida launch pad in September.

 

 

 

 

International:

  • India’s central bank said it is counting illegal notes to eliminate accounting errors, a day after people familiar with the matter said that lenders had received almost the entire amount that had been outlawed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Indians have returned 14.97 trillion rupees ($220 billion) of the notes, or 97 percent of currency that were rendered illegal, as of the Dec. 30 deadline.
  • China may take measures to keep its foreign-currency stockpile from slipping too far below the key $3 trillion mark to avoid hurting investor confidence and spurring further declines in the yuan, according to economists at major banks.
  • China is prepared to step up its scrutiny of U.S. companies in the event President-elect Donald Trump takes punitive measures against Chinese goods and triggers a trade war between the world’s two biggest economies after he takes office
  • China Mengniu Dairy Co., the country’s second-largest dairy company, offered to buy out China Modern Dairy Holdings Ltd. for HK$6.92 billion ($892 million) to gain control over the country’s biggest raw milk supplier amid a national push to improve food safety.
  • Indian budget airline SpiceJet Ltd. is poised to order at least 92 Boeing Co. 737 jetliners as the carrier plots rapid expansion in the world’s fastest growing aerospace market. The transaction, which would more than double SpiceJet’s 49-plane fleet, may be closed within weeks after lengthy talks that pitted Boeing against rival Airbus Group SE.
  • Brazil’s state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA increased prices of diesel but kept those of gasoline unchanged, raising questions about a policy of monthly adjustments that has boosted its shares. Diesel will go up 6.1 percent at refineries as of Friday, Rio de Janeiro-based Petrobras said in a statement Thursday evening. The retail price of the fuel could rise by 3.8 percent if the refinery increase is passed on to consumers, it added.
  • EasyJet Plc’s passenger count increased at less than half the pace of its low-cost rivals last year as Europe’s second-biggest discount carrier struggled with its exposure to the British and French travel markets.

 

 

 

*All sources from Bloomberg unless otherwise specified