September 28th, 2015
Daily Market Commentary
ECONOMIC NEWS
- Personal Income in the U.S. grew by 0.3% in month-over-month terms, slightly below estimates.
- Pending Home Sales in the U.S. fell by 1.4% and grew by 6.1% in month-over-month and year-over-year terms, respectively.
- Personal spending in the US in August was up 0.4%, slightly above estimates.
- The Core Personal Consumption Expenditure Price Index in the U.S. was up 1.3% in year-over-year terms in August.
Commodities:
- Oil halted its advance near $45 a barrel as lower Chinese industrial profits signalled demand may be weakening in the world’s second-biggest consumer.
- Gold declined for a second day to head for a fifth straight quarterly loss on prospects for a rise in U.S. interest rates this year as Federal Reserve policy makers honed their message on the outlook for borrowing costs.
Canada:
- BG Group said on Monday it had acquired stakes in three exploration blocks off the coast of Canada’s Newfoundland months before its planned merger with Royal Dutch Shell. (Globe)
United States:
- U.S. stock-index futures fell, erasing earlier gains, after a rout in biotechnology shares sent the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to its first back-to-back weekly drop since July.
- Target Corp. has expanded the list of chemicals it wants suppliers to take out of their products, stepping up pressure on its vendors to respond to consumer health concerns.
- Alcoa Inc., the biggest U.S. aluminum maker, will split itself into two public companies. The first, which will keep the Alcoa name, will concentrate on mining and metal production. The second will focus on high-technology products.
- Glencore Plc tumbled the most ever to a record low as Investec Plc warned that there was little value for shareholders should low commodity prices persist.
- Comcast Corp. is making its biggest overseas investment, as the largest U.S. cable operator seeks international growth after being stymied in its bid to acquire the second-largest operator Time Warner Cable Inc.
International:
- The optimism that sent European stocks rallying on Friday was short-lived. Commodity producers headed for their lowest levels since 2009, and automakers, which had their worst week since 2011, fell further 3.1 percent, the most among industry groups. Asian stocks fell.
- Renault signed a letter of intent with Gravity Motorspsorts, an affiliate of Genii Capital SA, for the potential acquisition of a controlling stake in Lotus F1 Team Ltd., co. says in a statement on its website.
- Royal Dutch Shell Plc will halt exploration in the U.S. Arctic after $7 billion of spending ended with a well off Alaska that failed to find any meaningful quantities of oil or natural gas.
- Asian markets ended with mixed results. The standout performer of the day was the Shenzhen index in China, which jumped by 2.4%. On the flip side, the Nikkei 225 index in Japan declined by 1.3%. (CNN)
*All information is taken from Bloomberg, unless otherwise noted.