May 22nd

Daily Market Commentary

 

ECONOMIC NEWS

  • The Consumer Price Index in Canada was reportedly down 0.1% and up 0.8% in month-over-month and year-over-year terms, respectively. Both figures were below estimates.
  • The Consumer Price Index in the U.S. was reportedly down 0.2% in year-over-year terms, which was below estimates.
  • Excluding Food and Energy, the U.S. CPI was up 0.3% and 1.8% in month-over-month and year-over-year terms, respectively. Both of these figures were above estimates.

Commodities:

  • Oil headed for a 10th weekly advance, the longest rising streak since trading started in 1983, amid signs that a glut of crude stockpiles in the U.S. is easing.
  • Gold rose from a one-week low as the dollar weakened on speculation U.S. policy makers will hold off raising borrowing costs.

Canada:

  • Canada Pension Plan Investment Board posted its best performance for a single year in the 12 months through March.
  • BlackBerry Ltd. plans to buy back and cancel as many as 12 million shares, or 2.6 percent of its public float, to offset a new employee share purchase plan.
  • Shopify Inc. jumped in its trading debut, after the company raised a larger than expected $131 million in its initial public offering.

United States

  • U.S. stock-index futures were little changed, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index at a record, before a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen kicks off Memorial Day weekend.
  • Exxon Mobil Corp. is ramping up efforts to track U.S. government work on Iranian sanctions that have locked out American oil companies from the Middle Eastern nation for more than three decades.
  • Pfizer Inc. built itself into a $212 billion behemoth by spending more money on acquisitions than any other drugmaker in the world. Still, Pfizer’s next purchase is what will really leave its mark as a dealmaker.

International:

  • A drop in German shares dragged European stocks lower after their longest winning streak in more than five weeks.
  • HSBC Holdings Plc won a new trial in a decade-old securities fraud lawsuit that led to a $2.46 billion judgment against the bank’s Household International unit
  • Britain had its best start to a fiscal year since the financial crisis, handing a boost to Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne as he tries to eliminate the budget deficit.
  • EBay Inc. plans to expand its click-and-collect service in the U.K. and across Europe, after buyers on its site collected 1.5 million parcels from British store chain Argos in the first 18 months of the service being available.
  • Telecom Italia SpA plans to raise as much as 960 million euros ($1.1 billion) from an initial public offering of its wireless-tower unit, boosting the target after advisers increased their valuation estimates, people familiar with the matter said.
  • Asian stocks followed U.S. shares higher as mixed economic data fueled bets the Federal Reserve won’t rush to raise rates. China’s Shenzhen Composite Index posted its biggest weekly gain since November 2008.
  • China and Hong Kong will start cross-border sales of funds on July 1, widening access to financial markets and capital in the world’s second-largest economy.
  • State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender by assets, posted a bigger-than-estimated increase in fourth-quarter profit as bad loans fell and interest income rose.

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