May 12th, 2016

Daily Market Commentary

 

ECONOMIC NEWS:

  • New Housing Prices in Canada were up 0.2% and 2% in month-over-month and year-over-year terms, respectively.
  • US Import Prices were up 0.3% and down 5.7% in month-over-month and year-over-year terms, respectively.
  • Export Prices in the US were up 0.5% and down 5% in month-over-month and year-over-year terms, respectively.
  • Continuing jobless claims in the US were up 2.16M, slightly above estimates.

Commodities:

  • Oil traded near the highest close in six months as supply reductions around the world, from the U.S. and Canada to Nigeria, helped whittle away the global surplus.
  • Gold declined for the first time in three days as the dollar halted losses, curbing demand for the metal as an alternative investment.
  • Copper climbed for a second day, extending the biggest gain this month, amid speculation that some investors betting on losses in China had closed out positions and after producers Glencore Plc and Chile’s Codelco gave optimistic longer-term outlooks.

Canada:

  • Canadian stocks rose to a one-week high as commodities producers rallied with the prices of resources from oil to industrial metals.
  • Infrastructure development and future price gains will increase Alberta’s oil production 78 percent to 5.4 million barrels a day by 2040, the National Energy board estimated Wednesday in a report outlining Canada’s energy future.

United States:

  • U.S. index futures rose, signaling stocks will resume this week’s rally after a pause on Wednesday.
  • Noble Group Ltd. arranged two credit facilities totaling $3 billion, below the amount it was said to be seeking, as Chief Executive OfficerYusuf Alireza tries to turn around the junk-rated commodity trader.
  • Dell Inc. is considering increasing the amount of debt it’s raising in the investment-grade bond market, potentially boosting a $16 billion offering by several billion dollars, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
  • The U.S. Medicare program sent out more than $125 billion in improper payments over three years for a plan that insures hospital and medical services for the elderly, including home health care, possibly triggering a congressional review.

 

International:

  • European shares rose, reversing an earlier decline, as oil rebounded and investors took a positive view of the latest batch of earnings releases
  • Denmark’s government plans to replace its aging fleet of fighter jets with Lockheed Martin planes in an order worth 20 billion kroner ($3 billion).
  • Prime Minister David Cameron said the U.K. plans to make financial services companies liable for their employees’ complicity in money laundering and fraud, in an extension of proposed laws against tax evasion.
  • BMW AG’s response to the challenge posed by Tesla Motors Inc.’s push into the luxury-car market will be ready in five years.
  • Brazil’s Senate voted to suspend President Dilma Rousseff from office, ushering in a new government after months of political turmoil in the recession-wracked country.
  • Asian stocks fell, with the regional benchmark index heading for its first drop in three days, amid growing pessimism over corporate earnings from Toyota Motor Corp. to Walt Disney Co.
  • Toshiba Corp. more than doubled its full-year earnings forecast on asset sales and a projected recovery in its power and computer memory divisions.
  • Nissan Motor Co. agreed to purchase a 34 percent stake in Mitsubishi Motors Corp., as Japan’s second-largest automaker comes to the aid of its minicar partner rocked by a fuel-economy testing scandal.

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