January 19th, 2016

Daily Market Commentary

 

ECONOMIC NEWS

  • Canadian investment in foreign securities was listed at $16.46B in November, while foreign investment in Canadian securities was only $2.6B over the same period.
  • The Consumer Price Index in the Eurozone was flat in month-over-month terms and up 0.2% in year-over-year terms, both in line with estimates.

Commodities:

  • Brent oil rebounded from the lowest close in 12 years in London, boosting energy shares across Asia, as commodities prices from metals to grains shrugged off weaker-than-expected Chinese economic data.

Canada:

  • Canada’s biggest wireless carriers are in the midst of raising prices on some of their most popular cellular plans as the industry looks to shore up revenue growth. (Globe)
  • Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has decided to focus initial stimulus efforts in oil-producing Alberta and Saskatchewan, while waiting to assess whether further stimulus is needed nationwide, according to officials familiar with the plans.
  • Bank of Nova Scotia, Canada’s third-largest lender by assets, aims to increase earnings by as much as 11 percent in four key Latin American countries within three to five years by adding more customers, embracing technology and cutting costs.

 

United States:

  • UnitedHealth Group Inc., the U.S.’s biggest health insurer, posted fourth-quarter earnings that topped analysts’ estimates, overcoming losses from individual and family plans sold under Obamacare, as the company considers whether to quit the markets in 2017.
  • Twitter said on Tuesday its social network was suffering outages in several parts of the world and it was working to resolve the issues, which appear to be concentrated in Europe, according to external monitoring sources. (Globe)
  • com Inc.’s Uber-esque foray into ultra-fast delivery has landed it in court with drivers claiming they’re being exploited.

International:

  • Gains in miners and exporters buoyed European stocks and Asian stocks from their lowest level in more than a year, amid bets that China will act to support its weakening economy.
  • Credit Agricole SA, the French lender seeking ways to bolster capital buffers, said it’s exploring the sale of stakes in more than three dozen regional banks. The shares surged.
  • Cnooc Ltd., China’s biggest offshore oil and gas producer, plans to trim output for the first time in more than a decade as it cuts spending to cope with oil’s plunge below $30 a barrel.
  • China plans to merge more than 40 entities working on plane engines into a group with 145 billion yuan ($22 billion) in assets as part of a broader push into advanced industries to propel its economy, people familiar with the proposal said.
  • Indian Railways, the world’s fourth-longest network, is considering land sales and exports of trains to Asia and Africa to help fund a looming wage increase of 320 billion rupees ($4.7 billion), people familiar with the matter said.

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