March 24th, 2017

Daily Market Commentary

 

 

 

Economic News:

  • CPI in Canada was up 0.2% and 2% in month-over-month and year-over-year terms, respectively.
  • Durable Goods orders in the US were up 1.7% in February, above estimates.
  • The Markit Services PMI for the Eurozone was quoted at 56.5, above estimates.
  • The Markit Manufacturing PMI for the Eurozone was quoted at 56.2, above estimates.
  • French GDP reportedly grew 0.4% and 1.1% in quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year terms, respectively.

Canada:

  • After more than 8 years of political haggling over its future, the Keystone XL oil pipeline running from Canada to America’s heartland has been approved by President Donald Trump, according to TransCanada Corp. The move overturns a 2015 decision by former President Barack Obama. During his campaign, Trump vowed to support energy companies and advocate for new infrastructure.

United States:

  • U.S. stock-index futures were steady, with health-care stocks in the spotlight again as Republican Party leaders hurtled toward a vote Friday on the embattled health-care bill. The benchmark slipped 0.1 percent on Thursday, as investors assessed the viability of President Trump’s economic agenda after House of Representatives leaders delayed a vote on the health-care legislation originally scheduled for Thursday.
  • Royal Dutch Shell Plc has agreed to sell its onshore oil assets in Gabon to a unit of the Carlyle Group LP for $587 million, taking it closer to its $30 billion divestment target. Carlyle’s unit Assala Energy Holdings Ltd. will also take on $285 million of Shell’s Gabon unit’s debt and will make an additional payment of as much as $150 million depending on production performance and commodity prices.

International:

  • European stocks fell for the third time in four days, moving further away from a 15-month high they reached just a week ago. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index lost 0.2 percent at 8:22 a.m. in London. Most industry groups declined, with insurance companies and energy shares falling the most.
  • The euro area’s accelerating economy is translating into faster job creation and stronger inflation pressures. A Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 56.7 in March, the highest level in almost six years, from 56, IHS Markit said on Friday.
  • Credit Suisse Group AG increased its bonus pool 6 percent, defying a trend toward smaller payouts at many of its peers in an effort to prevent an exodus of talent from its investment banking and Asian operations. The bank awarded 3.09 billion francs ($3.1 billion) in incentive pay for 2016, according to its annual report published Friday, even as charges tied to legal settlements pushed it to a second consecutive annual loss.
  • France’s presidential race took an inflammatory turn late Thursday after candidate Francois Fillon accused President Francois Hollande of directing a covert operation to meddle with the judicial investigation against him and aiding the spread of damaging revelations. Fillon, the Republican nominee, has been charged with graft and is being investigated for allegedly giving family members no-show jobs paid with public money as well as providing magistrates forged documents.
  • Rising stockpiles of commodities in China signal the world’s second-largest economy is in store for a cyclical slowdown, with negative repercussions for global bond yields, according to a market strategist who anticipated the country’s 2015 boom-and-bust in stocks.
  • Grab, Uber Technologies Inc.’s largest rival in Southeast Asia, plans to raise more than $1.5 billion in a new funding round backed by SoftBank Group Corp., people familiar with the matter said.

*All sources from Bloomberg unless otherwise specified