January 20th, 2016

Daily Market Commentary

 

ECONOMIC NEWS

  • The Consumer Price Index in the US was down 0.1% and 0.7% in month-over-month and year-over-year terms, respectively.
  • Housing Starts in the US were up. 1.15M, slightly below estimates. Building permits were slightly ahead of estimates at 1.23M
  • The Redbook Index, which measures same-store sales growth of US General Merchandising companies, was reportedly down 1.2% and up 1.4% in month-over-month and year-over-year terms, respectively.

Commodities:

  • Oil extended its decline from the lowest close in more than 12 years before weekly U.S. government data forecast to show crude stockpiles expanded, exacerbating a global glut.
  • Gold rallied toward $1,100 an ounce as equities dropped, investor holdings climbed to the highest level in two months and Citigroup Inc. said that bullion’s role as a haven asset was now back in vogue.

Canada:

  • Husky Energy Inc., the Canadian energy company controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing, said it’s suspending fourth-quarter dividend payments and reducing spending as the oil-price collapse worsens.
  • Brookfield Property Partners LP plans to start building the first commercial tower to be developed in Dubai’s financial district since the global credit crisis seven years ago. (Globe)

 

United States:

  • U.S. index futures tumbled, following a renewed selloff across stocks worldwide as skepticism about the global economy intensified.
  • Apple Inc. applied to open its own stores in India for the first time, a strategy that may help it better target a fast-growing market just as iPhone sales may be peaking.
  • Verizon Communications Inc. may disappoint investors on two key measurements when it reports fourth-quarter earnings Thursday: subscriber growth and phone bill size. For the nation’s largest wireless carrier and one of the best performers in the industry, that’s no small matter.
  • Molson Coors Brewing Co. has joined a group of brewers trying to grab a piece of SABMiller Plc’s near-monopoly of Colombia’s beer market.

International:

  • European stocks slid to a 13-month low as results updates from companies including Zurich Insurance Group AG and Royal Dutch Shell Plc exacerbated investor concern about global growth.
  • Royal Dutch Shell Plc, which is buying BG Group Plc in the industry’s largest deal in a decade, expects fourth-quarter profit to drop at least 42 percent after the rout in crude prices deepened.
  • Zurich Insurance Group AG fell the most in a year after Switzerland’s biggest insurer said it expects to report a second straight quarterly loss at its general insurance unit.
  • Asian stocks dropped the most in three months and Japanese shares plunged into a bear market as tumbling oil prices fed concerns over the global economic outlook.
  • China’s largest group-buying and food-delivery company, Meituan Dianping, said it has raised $3.3 billion at a valuation of $18 billion, marking the company as one of the world’s most valuable startups and underscoring the country’s rising prominence in the technology industry.

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