July 25th

Daily Market Commentary

 

ECONOMIC NEWS

  • Durable Goods Orders in the U.S. were reportedly up 0.7% in June, above estimates of 0.5%.
  • The M3 Money Supply in the Eurozone was reportedly up 1.1% and 1.5% in month-over-month and year-over-year terms, respectively.
  • Private Loans in the Eurozone were reportedly down 1% in year-over-year terms.
  • GDP growth in the U.K. was reported at 0.8% and 3.1%  in quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year terms, respectively. Both were in line with estimates.

Commodities:

  • Gold held near a five-week low, heading for a second weekly loss, as the outlook for improving U.S. economic growth curbed demand for a protection of wealth.
  • West Texas Intermediate headed for the third weekly decline this month amid speculation that rising U.S. gasoline stockpiles signal reduced demand in the world’s biggest oil consumer. Brent was steady in London.

Canada:

  • TransForce in agreement to buy Contrans Group for C$14.60 per share in cash, for a total equity purchase price of ~C$495m.
  • Enbridge Inc. estimates a proposed Colombian pipeline to the Pacific coast will save crude producers in the country about $500 million a year as they boost exports to Asia amid a U.S. shale boom.
  • Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper widened economic sanctions against Russia today to include a group of energy producers, banks and arms makers.

United States:

  • U.S. stock-index futures were little changed, after the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index extended a record, as earnings at Amazon.com Inc to Visa Inc. missed estimates and investors awaited data on durable-goods orders.
  • Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox Inc. agreed to sell its pay-TV businesses in Germany and Italy for more than $9 billion, gaining funds to raise an $80 billion takeover bid for Time Warner Inc.
  • Visa Inc., the world’s largest payments network, declined 3 percent after reducing its revenue forecast for the rest of the fiscal year.
  • Pandora Media Inc., the biggest Internet radio service, dropped in late trading after listener growth missed some analysts’ estimates. Quarterly profit beat projections and the company raised its 2014 outlook.
  • AbbVie Inc., the drug-maker buying Shire Plc to lower its tax rate, reported profit that beat analysts’ estimates on strong sales of the arthritis drug Humira.

International:

  • European stocks were little changed, heading for their second straight weekly advance, as investors weighed earnings from companies including LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA and Air France-KLM Group.
  • LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, the world’s largest luxury-goods company, fell the most in almost three years, sending shares of peers tumbling, after earnings missed estimates amid weaker consumption in Asia.
  • Russia’s central bank unexpectedly increased borrowing costs for a third time this year as the intensifying conflict over Ukraine and the threat of wider sanctions squeeze the economy and undercut the ruble.
  • Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc said first-half profit almost doubled as impairment charges fell and forecast it will meet a cost-cutting target of 1 billion pounds in 2014. The shares surged the most in almost three years.
  • Asian stocks rose, with the regional benchmark index headed for its 10th advance in 11 weeks, as earnings from companies including Fanuc Corp. boosted sentiment.
  • Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the nation’s largest lender by market value, is seeking to raise as much as $12.9 billion selling preferred stock in China and offshore, it said in Shanghai stock exchange statement today.
  • Japan’s inflation slowed in June, highlighting the task of Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda faces in reaching the bank’s target.
  • China released two measures of unemployment that had a divergence of almost 1%, underscoring a lack of clarity on the job market in the world’s second-largest economy.

 

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