January, 3rd 2017

Daily Market Commentary

 

 

Economic News:

  • European stocks rose for a third day and were entering a bull market, as data showed China’s factories and services both ended 2016 on relatively robust notes.
  • The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, which tracks the greenback against 10 global currencies, has gained 5.7 percent since the Nov. 8 election, largely on expectations for lower taxes, higher government spending and looser regulations under Trump.
  • Asian emerging-market stocks extended their winning streak to a sixth day, the longest in almost five months, after a private manufacturing index in China climbed to the highest level since 2013.
  • Governments of the world’s leading economies have about $7.7 trillion of debt maturing in 2017, with most facing higher borrowing costs as a three-decade bull market for bonds shows signs of running out of steam. The amount of sovereign bills, notes and bonds coming due for the Group-of-Seven nations plus Brazil, Russia, India and China will climb more than 8 percent from approximately $7 trillion in 2016.

 

Commodities:

  • Metals: Gold: 1149.13 (+$1.63, +0.14%), Silver: 15.97 (+$0.04, +0.26%); Copper: 2.5320 (+1.05%); Aluminum: 0.7662 (-0.21%); Nickel: 4.6145 (+1.52%); Zinc: 1.1635 (-0.41%)
  • Energy: Crude: 54.94 (+2.27%); Brent: 58.13 (+2.31%); Nat Gas: 3.50 (-6.10%)
  • Crude Oil futures have hit their highest level in 18 months (CNN Money)
  • In U.S. drillers added rigs for the ninth week, boosting the number to the highest in about a year (Bloomberg)
  • Germany unemployment extends drop as economic growth picks up (Dundee)
  • Aluminum rally at risk in 2017 as Wave of Supply could flip the market. Due to China, the world’s largest producer is firing up new plants and restarting idled capacity. (Dundee)
  • Gold climbs for fifth time in six sessions, after posting first annual gain since 2012, as Chinese jewelry purchases to spur demand.

 

United States:

  • President-elect Trump has announced his plan to nominate Robert Lighthizer as U.S. Trade Representative. This following two noteworthy tweets in which Trump fired shots at both China & North Korea. (Dundee)
  • Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV is laying out a vision of a battery-powered, self-driving minivan that it bets even a millennial could love. That may not be enough to shake the automaker’s image as the purveyor of the least fuel-efficient fleet in the U.S.
  • BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest provider of exchange-traded funds, took in a record $140 billion of new flows into its iShares business last year. The increase was driven by bond, smart beta and core ETFs, New York-based BlackRock said in a statement Tuesday. Investors have pumped $27 billion into BlackRock’s U.S. iShares Core ETFs since an October price cut on 15 stock and bond funds aimed at buy-and-hold investors.

 

 

International:

  • Global banking regulators delayed a key meeting on new capital standards, acknowledging they need more time to strike an agreement after European authorities resisted planned restrictions on how banks measure asset risk. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision’s oversight board said in a statement on Tuesday that it had postponed a meeting scheduled for Jan. 8 to allow for more debate.
  • Chinese citizens converting yuan into foreign currencies face new requirements as of Jan 1st. One such requirement is having to pledge that the money will not be used to purchase overseas properties. (Bloomberg)
  • Manufacturing in the U.K. grew at the fastest pace in 2 1/2 years in December (Bloomberg)
  • Bitcoin has been surging higher, as it has broken through $1000 level, and is now trading at its best level in over 3 years. (Business Insider)
  • Italy has reached a deal to save its banks. The Italian Government has agreed to fund $20.9 billion to aid its struggling banking system (Reuters)
  • China’s third-biggest search engine expects to hold a U.S. initial public offering at a valuation of as much as $5 billion as it raises cash to close the gap with leader Baidu Inc. in the mobile market.

 

 

*All sources from Bloomberg unless otherwise specified