May 9th, 2016

Daily Market Commentary

 

ECONOMIC NEWS:

  • Housing starts in Canada were listed at 191.5K.
  • Sentix Investor Confidence for the Eurozone was quoted at 6.2, slightly above estimates.
  • Factory orders in Germany were up 1.9% in month-over-month terms, above estimates.

Commodities:

  • Crude rose as Canadian wildfires knocked out about 1 million barrels a day of production, outweighing the new Saudi Arabian oil minister’s pledge to maintain the country’s policy of near-record output.
  • Gold declined for the fifth time in six days as the dollar strengthened after a Federal Reserve official said it’s fair to expect two U.S. interest-rate increases this year.
  • Copper fell in London, extending its worst weekly slide since November, after China slashed purchases from a record high.

Canada:

  • Embattled drug maker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. offered tens of millions of dollars in incentives to a pharmacy to sell its products even as the relationship between the two was kept private, according to documents released by a Senate committee.
  • Canada oil-sands producers including Suncor Energy Inc. could resume production within a week after the threat subsides from wildfires that cut as much as 40 percent of the region’s output.

United States:

  • U.S. stock-index futures edged higher, after two weeks of declines for the S&P 500, as crude prices rose and investors awaited the final batch of earnings reports this season.
  • Three of the world’s most influential bond investors and the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York say the U.S. central bank is on course to raise interest rates even after an April jobs gain that was smaller than economists forecast.
  • Freeport-McMoRan Inc. announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its interests in TF Holdings Limited to China Molybdenum Co., Ltd. for $2.65 billion in cash and contingent consideration of up to $120 million.

 

 

International:

  • European shares rebounded from their worst week since the doldrums of the February selloff as investors bet that the global economic outlook continues to merit central bank support.
  • Half of Europeans believe that a vote by Britain to leave the European Union could spark a domino effect causing other countries to leave the bloc, with four in 10 foreseeing a reduced EU by the end of the decade.
  • Total SA agreed to buy French battery maker Saft Groupe SA in a 950 million-euro ($1.1 billion) deal to expand in clean energy.
  • Asian stocks were mixed as the region’s biggest markets diverged, with Chinese shares slumping on disappointing trade data while Japan equities climbed for the first time in seven sessions.
  • China Petrochemical Corp., one of the world’s biggest oil refining companies, named Dai Houliang as general manager, filling a role left empty since his predecessor was removed the company and then expelled from the ruling Communist Party on corruption charges.
  • Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., the Japanese maker of ships and aircraft parts, surged the most in almost three months in Tokyo trading after its forecast for operating profit beat previous estimates.

 

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