March 27th, 2015

Daily Market Commentary

 

ECONOMIC NEWS

  • Annualized GDP in the U.S. for the fourth quarter was reported at 2.2%, below estimates of 2.4%.
  • Personal Consumption Expenditures in the U.S. were reportedly down 0.4% in quarter-over-quarter terms, in line with estimates.
  • Retail sales in Italy were reportedly up 0.1% and 1.7% in month-over-month and year-over-year terms, respectively.

Commodities:

  • Gold pared the first back-to-back weekly climb since January as investors weighed a rising dollar.
  • Oil trimmed its biggest weekly advance in four years on speculation that air strikes in Yemen by Saudi Arabia and its allies don’t pose a threat to ample crude supplies.
  • Copper fell from the highest in more than two months as mines resumed operations after flooding in Chile, the world’s largest producer, and as industrial profits extended declines in China, the biggest consumer.

Canada:

  • Takata Corp., the Japanese auto-parts maker whose air bags have been linked to six fatalities globally, has been sued in Canada in three separate cases, it said in a statement today.
  • The Alberta government plans to raise $9.746-billion in debt this year, the largest financing it has done in at least 15 years as the province copes with a painful oil slump. (Globe)
  • Quebec expects to balance its books this coming year for the first time since the global financial crisis as Canada’s second-most populous province reins in spending and revenue advances amid a rebound in exports to the U.S.
  • Toronto-Dominion Bank would consider small retail bank takeovers in the U.S. Southeast to expand its branch network on the Eastern Seaboard, Chief Executive Officer Bharat Masrani said.

United States

  • U.S. stock-index futures declined, indicating stocks will extend their longest losing streak in 10 weeks, as investors awaited economic data to help gauge the timing of the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate increase.
  • U.S. wheat exports fell to the lowest in 25 years, underscoring the blow to farmers who are struggling to compete with foreign growers as the strengthening dollar makes American goods more expensive.
  • GameStop Corp., faced with a shrinking core business selling video games, is accelerating its effort to diversify by adding to its stores that offer AT&T Inc. wireless plans and acquiring other technology retail chains.

International:

  • European stocks rebounded from a two-day drop, paring the worst weekly loss of the year, as Mario Draghi assured that his bond-buying plan will meet its monthly target.
  • Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc agreed to sell its Coutts International private banking business to Switzerland’s Union Bancaire Privee, as the bailed-out British lender retreats from the Swiss wealth market.
  • Asian stocks fell a second day, after yesterday dropping the most in almost two months, as industrial shares led declines. The Topix posted its first weekly decline in more than two months as Japanese equities went ex-dividend.
  • China’s biggest banks are accelerating cuts to their dividend payouts as bad debts pile up from struggling exporters in the Pearl River Delta, coal companies in the nation’s west and manufacturers in the Bohai Rim near Beijing.

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