June 24th, 2014

Daily Market Commentary

 

ECONOMIC NEWS

  • The S&P/ Case-Shiller Home Price Indices were reportedly up 10.8% in year-over-year terms, below estimates of 11.6%.
  • The Housing Price Index in the U.S. was reportedly up 0% in month-over-month terms, also below estimates.
  • The Redbook index, which measures same-store sales growth in general merchandisers, was reportedly down 1.7% and up 3.3% in month-over-month and year-over-year terms, respectively.

Commodities:

  • Brent crude traded near its lowest in a week and West Texas Intermediate slipped amid speculation that Iraqi oil production won’t be disrupted by violence in OPEC’s second-largest producer.
  • Gold climbed to a two-month high in London as investors weighed tension in Iraq with the outlook for the U.S. economy. Platinum and palladium rose before producers were set to sign a deal to end a mine strike in South Africa.
  • The surcharge that copper buyers are expected to pay to secure the metal in Europe declined in the past two months amid slowing demand, according to four people who trade the market.

Canada:

  • Talisman Energy Inc., the Canadian energy producer that was targeted by billionaire investor Carl Icahn, said it hired Miro Advisors Pty to sell its stake in a A$1.4 billion ($1.3 billion) Australian project operated by Woodside Petroleum Ltd.
  • Canada’s biggest pension fund is investing in Indian infrastructure assets after Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to build 100 new cities and revive growth in the $1.8 trillion economy. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board said yesterday that it will pay $166 million for a stake in a unit of Larsen & Toubro Ltd., India’s largest engineering company.

United States:

  • U.S. stock-index futures slipped, indicating equities will fall after halting a six-day winning streak, as investors watched developments in Iraq and awaited reports on housing and consumer confidence.
  • The desire to avoid U.S. corporate taxes has now spread to agricultural giants — as a dead deal shows. Monsanto Co., the world’s largest seed company worth $64 billion, recently explored a takeover of $34 billion Swiss rival Syngenta AG in a transaction that would have allowed the U.S. firm to move its tax location to Switzerland.

International:

  • European stocks dropped to a one-week low as German business confidence fell to the lowest level this year.
  • German Chancellor Angela Merkel told members of her party yesterday that Russia faces full economic sanctions unless it takes verifiable steps to calm the crisis in Ukraine by Friday, two people present at the meeting said.
  • Asian stocks climbed, with the regional benchmark index rising for the first time in three days, as utilities advanced and Hong Kong stocks rebounded from yesterday’s slump.
  • Chinese borrowers are extending their position as the biggest issuers of dollar-denominated bonds in Asia, as China construction Bank Corp. offers notes in the currency.