January 7th

Daily Market Commentary

 

ECONOMIC NEWS

  • Imports and Exports in Canada were reported at $43.91B and $43.26B, respectively.
  • MBA Mortgage Applications in the U.S. were reportedly up 11.1%.
  • The ADP Employment Change figure for the U.S. was reported at 241K, above estimates of 225K.
  • The unemployment rate in the Eurozone was announced at 11.5%, which was in line with estimates.
  • The Consumer Price Index for the Eurozone was reportedly down 0.2% in year-over-year terms.
  • The Consumer Price Index Core for the Eurozone was reportedly up 0.8% in year-over-year terms, above estimates of 0.6%.

Commodities:

  • Brent crude pares losses after dipping below $50 a barrel for the first time since May 2009 amid signs of a continuing supply surplus.
  • Gold fell after a three-day rally as investors waited for minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last meeting that may give clues on timing of higher interest rates.
  • Copper fell, extending declines to a four-year low as economic data added to concerns about the European economy and oil traded near the lowest since 2009.

Canada:

  • Canadian banks’ reputation as the world’s safest lenders isn’t worth what it once was as collapsing crude-oil prices add to a growing list of economic challenges facing their home market. The lower borrowing costs Canadian banks enjoyed compared with global peers in the international bond market for much of the last decade have all but disappeared over the past six months as crude began its slide to the lowest since 2009.
  • Air Canada is considering whether to keep flying at Toronto’s Billy Bishop Airport, the close-to-downtown facility where short-haul operator Porter Airlines Inc. has its base.
  • A unit of Morgan Stanley agreed to sell Montreal Gateway Terminals Partnership, a cargo container facility at the Port of Montreal, to a consortium led by Fiera Axium Infrastructure, in a deal that could fetch more than $600M.

United States

  • U.S. stock-index futures rose, signalling equities may halt their worst start to a year since 2008, as investors await minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last meeting for clues on the timing of a rate increase.
  • Treasury 10-year notes fell for the first time in eight days before the Federal Reserve publishes minutes of its December meeting and as a private report showed the U.S. added more jobs last month than forecast.
  • Monsanto Co., the biggest seed company, posted better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter earnings and revenue, helped by sales of its newest soybean variety that’s genetically modified to withstand pests in South America.

International:

  • European stocks rose the most in almost three weeks amid investor optimism that a weaker-than-forecast inflation report bolsters the case for the European Central Bank to begin quantitative easing.
  • When Greece sparked the euro region’s debt crisis in 2009, it set off a chain of contagion that ended up locking Ireland out of capital markets. Now, even with elections in Greece threatening to plunge that nation into fresh turmoil, Ireland is firmly back in the fold.
  • Italian unemployment unexpectedly rose to a record high that’s more than double the German rate, keeping alive concerns about the diverging growth outlook in the euro area.
  • Asian stocks fell, after dropping the most since March yesterday, as crude’s slump deepened. China’s Shanghai Composite Index climbed for a fourth day.
  • McDonald’s Corp.’s Japan business and Cargill Inc. are investigating complaints objects were found in chicken nuggets made by a Cargill unit in Thailand, the restaurant chain’s second food-safety crisis in six months.
  • Tencent Holdings Ltd. rose the most in eight months in New York after JPMorgan Chase & Co. recommended buying the shares on prospects growth in advertising revenue will boost profit at China’s second-largest Internet company.
  • Standard Chartered Plc, the London-based lender that generates most of its earnings in Asia, plans to reduce headcount in Malaysia by 11%, according to a memo obtained by Bloomberg News.

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