August 31st, 2016

Daily Market Commentary

 

ECONOMIC NEWS

  • Canada’s GDP was up 0.6% in month-over-month terms in June, slightly more than expected.
  • Quarter-over-quarter annualized GDP in Canada was down 1.6%, slightly less than expected.
  • Pending Home Sales in the US were up 1.3% and 1.4% in month-over-month and year-over-year terms, respectively.
  • Portuguese GDP was up 0.3% and 0.9% in quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year terms, respectively.

Commodities:

  • Oil is poised for the biggest monthly advance since April as the global surplus diminishes and OPEC’s planned talks fan speculation it could reach an accord on output.
  • Gold is headed for the first monthly decline since May as investors price in the prospect of higher U.S. borrowing costs by the end of the year and slowing purchases of bullion-backed exchange-traded funds.
  • Copper rebounded from the lowest level in ten weeks after Chilean miner Codelco halted one mine and faced the possibility of a strike at another, threatening disruptions from the world’s top supplier of the mined metal. Others industrial metals also climbed.

Canada:

  • Tim Hortons will begin opening restaurants in the U.K. next year as part of a global expansion.
  • Canada’s government-owned postal carrier and its unionized workers reached a two-year accord after months of protracted negotiations, defusing the threat of an impending strike.
  • National Bank of Canada said fiscal third-quarter profit rose 5.5 percent after posting record profit in personal-and-commercial banking and higher earnings in wealth management.

United States:

  • U.S. index futures were little changed before a private employment report that will set up the tone for the Labor Department data later this week.
  • Goldman Sachs Group Inc. was the original winner of Alecta’s U.S. real estate sale before the transaction fell apart amid a disagreement over terms, leading Blackstone Group LP to prevail with a $1.8 billion deal, said people with knowledge of the matter.
  • Automakers’ decision to scale back U.S. discounts in August is a sign they’re willing to maintain some price discipline, even if it raises the odds that industrywide annual sales will fall for the first time in seven years. August
  • The U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast that farmers will see more profit this year than it previously predicted as costs declined for feed, fuel and fertilizer. U.S. farm net income will be $71.5 billion in 2016, the USDA said Tuesday in a report on its website.

International:

  • European stocks advanced for a second day, extending a monthly gain, as banks continued their rebound.
  • Investment bankers at Europe’s biggest securities firms are watching their bonuses melt. A rout in financial stocks this year has wiped more than $2.5 billion from the value of deferred shares that were paid as bonuses in the past few years at Barclays Plc, Credit Suisse Group AG, Deutsche Bank AG and UBS Group AG, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
  • Thyssenkrupp AG and Tata Steel Ltd.’s attempts to combine their European steel operations are centered on how to value Tata’s troubled U.K. assets, according to people familiar with the matter.
  • Asian stocks rose, with Japanese shares advancing in August for the first time in seven years, as banks rallied and the yen weakened amid expectations for an increase in U.S. interest rates this year.
  • Fosun International Ltd., the flagship of the Chinese conglomerate that owns Club Mediterranee SA, signaled the company will announce information related to initial public offerings of its health-care assets before the end of the year.

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