January 13th, 2015

Daily Market Commentary

 

ECONOMIC NEWS

  • The Redbook Index, which measures same-store sales growth for general merchandising stores in the U.S., was reportedly down 3.2% and up 3.8% in year-over-year and month-over-month terms, respectively.
  • The NFIB Business Optimism Index was reported at 100.4, above estimates of 98.6.
  • The Core Consumer Price Index in Great Britain was reportedly up 1.3% in year-over-year terms, slightly below estimates of 1.4%.

Commodities:

  • Oil extended losses to trade below $45 a barrel amid speculation that U.S. crude stockpiles will increase, exacerbating a global supply glut that’s driven prices to the lowest in more than 5 1/2 years.
  • Gold extended gains to the highest in almost 12 weeks as investors assessed the timing of higher borrowing costs and the strength of the U.S. economy amid slumping oil prices. Silver climbed to a four-week high.

Canada:

  • Goldcorp Inc., the largest gold miner by market value, may take an impairment charge of as much as $2.7 billion on its Cerro Negro mine in Argentina because of foreign-exchange restrictions and inflation in the country.
  • Resolute Forest Products Inc., losing business to digital publishing, is facing a threat from Greenpeace as it urges customers to shun the world’s largest newsprint maker for what it claims are environmentally unsound forestry practices.

United States

  • U.S. stock-index futures climbed, signaling the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will halt a two-day drop.
  • Pacific Investment Management Co. named Marc Seidner as lead manager of the Pimco Unconstrained Bond Fund as Saumil Parikh leaves the firm, the first high-profile departure since the surprise exit of co-founder Bill Gross.
  • President Barack Obama’s initiative to protect computer networks from hacking may benefit one of Bank of America Corp.’s 15 trading ideas for this year: buying shares of cybersecurity providers.
  • Boeing Co. delivered more planes than Airbus Group in 2014 to hold on to the title of world’s biggest plane-maker for a third straight year as the U.S. company accelerated production of its newest 787 Dreamliner.

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International:

  • European stocks advanced for a second day, as retailers climbed and data showed U.K. inflation fell to the lowest level in 15 years.
  • Britain’s inflation rate fell to the lowest in almost 15 years in December, which will force Governor Mark Carney to write the Bank of England’s first open letter explaining why prices are rising too slowly.
  • The European Central Bank is threatening to choke off funding to Greece’s lenders in the hope it won’t actually need to.
  • Deutsche Bank AG is weighing options such as job cuts and the sale of assets, including its Postbank consumer-lending unit, as Germany’s biggest bank reviews its strategy, a person with knowledge of the matter said.
  • China is emerging a winner from the collapse in commodities prices to the lowest in 12 years as the world’s second-largest economy buys a record amount of raw materials.

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