July 5th, 2016

Daily Market Commentary

 

ECONOMIC NEWS

  • Retail Sales in the EU were up 0.4% and 1.6% in month-over-month and year-over-year terms, respectively.
  • The Markit Services PMI for the Eurozone was listed at 52.8, above estimates.
  • The Markit Services PMI for the UK was listed at 52.3, slightly below estimates.

 

Commodities:

  • Brent crude dropped below $50 a barrel, sinking in tandem with equity markets, amid signs that global oil supplies remain plentiful.
  • Silver tumbled after posting its biggest two-day advance since 2011, with precious metals declining as the dollar snapped five days of losses. Silver trading on the Shanghai Futures Exchange almost doubled from Monday.

Canada:

  • Canadian companies raised C$28.5 billion ($22 billion) in domestic stock sales in the first half of the year, the second-highest on record for the period, as some of the country’s biggest resource firms tapped equity markets to pay for acquisitions.
  • The Canadian dollar posted its longest rally since February as commodities bounced on expectations central banks will keep the stimulus flowing following Britain’s Brexit vote.
  • Canada Post notified Canadian Union of Postal Workers that it will be changing terms and conditions of employment for all employees represented by union starting July 8, it says in statement.

 

United States:

  • U.S. stock-index futures declined as traders awoke to a global selloff after the Independence Day holiday.
  • Hostess Brands LLC plans to become a publicly listed company after reaching an agreement with Gores Holdings Inc. Gores Holdings, a special-purpose acquisition company sponsored by an affiliate of Gores Group LLC, will provide $375 million through a trust account, and additional investors have committed another $350 million in a private placement
  • Hostess Brands LLC plans to become a publicly listed company after reaching an agreement with Gores Holdings Inc. Gores Holdings, a special-purpose acquisition company sponsored by an affiliate of Gores Group LLC, will provide $375 million through a trust account, and additional investors have committed another $350 million in a private placement

International:

  • European shares extended declines into a second day, after a rally that lifted them by the most since February, amid indications the region’s economic growth lacks momentum.
  • Four banks including ING Groep NV and ABN Amro Group NVagreed to pay hundreds of millions of euros to settle a long-running dispute with Dutch businesses over interest-rate swaps that backfired after the 2008 financial crisis.
  • UBS Group AG, among Swiss banks struggling to pull away from a past of helping clients dodge taxes, said it received an order from Swiss tax authorities to provide information related to a French request for assistance on tax matters.
  • Britain’s economy is likely to grind to a halt and may start contracting as businesses and shoppers react to the vote to leave the European Union, according to John Gieve, a former deputy governor of the Bank of England.
  • Asian stocks retreated, following a four-day rally in the regional equities gauge, as energy producers and banks led declines and a stronger yen weighed on shares in Tokyo.
  • Postal Savings Bank of China Co., the company preparing for an initial public offering that may raise $8 billion, has plunged into shadow-banking arrangements that could make investors question its reputation as sleepy and safe.
  • South Korea will invest as much as 42 trillion won ($36 billion) in the renewable energy industry by 2020, the Yonhap News Agency reported. The Asian nation will build new renewable power projects able to produce 13 million kilowatts of electricity annually by 2020.

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