October 17th
Daily Market Commentary
ECONOMIC NEWS
- The Consumer Price Index in Canada was reportedly up 0.3% and 2% in month-over-month and year-over-year terms, respectively. Both were in line with estimates.
- The Bank of Canada Consumer Price Index Core was reportedly up 0.2% and 2.1% in month-over-month and year-over-year terms, respectively. Both were in line with estimates as well.
- Housing starts in the U.S. were reportedly up 1.017M in month-over-month terms.
- Building Permits in September in the U.S. were reportedly up 1.018M, slightly below estimates.
Commodities:
- West Texas Intermediate crude extended its rebound from below $80 a barrel, heading for its biggest one-day gain in a month as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said the market isn’t oversupplied. Brent advanced in London.
- Gold was little changed below a five-week high in London as investors weighed rebounding equities and signs of a global economic slowdown. Palladium rose, after yesterday approaching a bear market.
- The number of super-tankers sailing toward China’s ports surged to a nine-month high amid speculation an oil-price slump is encouraging the world’s second-biggest crude importer to accelerate purchases.
Canada:
- Barrick Gold Corp. said plans by Zambia, Africa’s second-biggest copper producer, to more than triple royalties for the company’s local unit will threaten the viability of its Lumwana mine.
- Expectations for consumer price increases in Canada are at the lowest since the country’s 2009 recession as a collapse in commodity markets reignites the threat of deflation.
United States:
- U.S. stock-index futures rose, indicating equities will pare their fourth weekly loss, amid speculation that weakness in the global economy will spur policy makers to provide more stimulus.
- General Electric Co. beat analysts’ third-quarter profit estimates as cost cutting helped boost margins in the industrial business that Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt is working to grow.
- Starbucks Corp. unveiled a spate of new perks for its workers yesterday, including higher starting pay and first crack at coffee from the company’s Costa Rican test farm as well as looser rules governing tattoos.
- Morgan Stanley reported earnings that almost doubled, beating analysts’ estimates, on a 9% jump in revenue from trading stocks and bonds.
- Honeywell International Inc. posted third-quarter profit that exceeded analysts’ estimates and raised the low end of its full-year earnings targets as a housing rebound spurred sales of thermostats and air purifiers.
International:
- European stocks climbed the most in more than seven months, ending their longest losing streak in 11 years, as an ailing euro-area economy increases pressure on policy makers to provide more stimulus measures.
- Yara International ASA and CF Industries Holdings Inc. terminated their talks to merge and create the world’s largest maker of nitrogen-based fertilizer.
- ECB policy makers said governments must accelerate plans to strengthen their economies or risk derailing the region’s recovery.
- It’s been a tough week for European companies, with Rolls-Royce cutting its full-year target for sales and cash flow, leading the stock to drop the most in eight month, while Jimmy Choo sold shares to the public at the bottom end of its range.
- Asian stocks fell, with the regional benchmark index heading for a correction, as shares of Japanese exporters retreated after the yen strengthened.
- Japan’s two-year notes climbed, pushing yields to a record low, as a decline in domestic equities reinforced speculation the Bank of Japan will maintain its unprecedented debt purchases to sustain growth.
- LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton is confident it can adapt to deteriorating market conditions, particularly in China, according to billionaire Chairman Bernard Arnault.
*All information is taken from Bloomberg, unless otherwise noted.