May 6th, 2016
Daily Market Commentary
ECONOMIC NEWS:
- The Participation Rate in Canada was reported at 65.8%.
- The Net Change in employment in Canada was -2.1K jobs in April.
- The April Unemployment Rate in Canada was 7.1%, slightly below estimates of 7.2%.
- Average hourly earnings in the US were up 2.5%.
- The US participation rate dropped slightly to 62.8%.
- The US unemployment rate held steady at 5%.
Commodities:
- Oil headed for its first weekly decline in more than a month as rising U.S. stockpiles and OPEC production cushioned the impact of declines in North American output.
- Gold headed for its biggest weekly decline since March as investors awaited U.S. jobs data for more clues on when the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates.
- Copper headed for the biggest weekly loss since January 2015 on a resurgent dollar and rising concerns about the strength of demand in China, where authorities have taken steps to cool a speculative frenzy.
Canada:
- Public Sector Pension Investment Board, one of the largest Canadian pension funds, is still considering buying a stake in Reliance Infrastructure Ltd.’s Mumbai power business after the initial deadline for a formal agreement passed.
- The wildfires spreading around Canada’s oil-sands hub of Fort McMurray may become the costliest catastrophe in the country’s history with losses potentially reaching C$9.4 billion ($7.3 billion).
United States:
- S. index futures dropped, with equities already at their lowest levels in more than three weeks, before a jobs release today.
- A new accounting rule that will force banks to set aside provisions for bad loans long before they sour could cannibalize profits and eat into capital at U.S. lenders… the standard goes into effect in 2020.
- General Electric Co. is hunting for acquisitions in the beleaguered oil and gas industry after missing an opportunity to buy assets when the merger between Halliburton Co. and Baker Hughes Inc. was scuttled.
- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has raised its iron ore forecasts for the remainder of the year after the commodity’s surprise rally at the start of 2016, while warning that the revival in prices may store up problems as supplies are still set to increase.
International:
- European shares fell for the fifth time in six days, indicating lingering pessimism about global growth prospects, as investors awaited a key U.S. labor report.
- U.K. stores had their steepest sales decline since 2008 last month as British consumers shunned the country’s shopping streets.
- The pound, the developed world’s worst-performing currency this year, is suffering its biggest decline in six weeks as a raft of data add to signs the economy is stagnating before a referendum that may see Britain leave the European Union.
- Asian stocks fell for a fifth day, with the regional benchmark index set for its worst weekly loss in almost three months, as Japanese traders returned from a three-day holiday and investors awaited the monthly U.S. jobs report for clues on the strength of the world’s largest economy.
- If there was one thing that stood out from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s quarterly earnings report, it was a tripling of revenue from its fledgling cloud business.
- Sharp Corp. fell the most in almost two months on concerns that the Japanese company’s loss for the last fiscal year will be far wider than forecast.
*All information is taken from Bloomberg, unless otherwise noted.