November 6th, 2015

Daily Market Commentary

 

ECONOMIC NEWS

  • The participation rate in Canada was 66%, above expectations.
  • The Unemployment rate in the US was listed at 5%, below estimates of 5.1%.
  • Nonfarm Payrolls for October were reported at 271K, far above estimates of 180K.
  • Average hourly earnings were up 0.4% in the US in month-over-month terms, above estimates.

Commodities:

  • Oil halted its slide near $45 a barrel after the biggest two-day decline in three weeks amid rising U.S. stockpiles.
  • Gold headed for a third weekly loss as investors awaited monthly U.S. employment data.

 

Canada:

  • China has displaced Canada as the United States’ largest trading partner, a landmark shift that eliminates one of the defining characteristics of the Canadian economy. (Globe)
  • Suncor Energy Inc. is stepping up its hostile C$4.3 billion ($3.3 billion) bid for Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. by asking Alberta regulators to strike down the target’s new shareholder rights plan aimed at preventing its takeover.
  • The Public Sector Pension Plan Investment Board, one of Canada’s largest pension funds, is looking to deploy as much as C$5 billion ($3.8 billion) in lending markets over the next five years with the launch of a credit office in New York.
  • Pacific NorthWest LNG to receive environmental assessment as early as end of year, after which co. will immediately decide on final investment, Michiro Yamashita, executive officer at Japan Petroleum Exploration, says at briefing Friday.

United States:

  • U.S. stock-index futures held steady before a labor report that will provide clues on whether the world’s biggest economy is ready for a Federal Reserve rate increase.
  • Facebook Inc. warned investors in a regulatory filing that its revenue could be adversely affected by technology that blocks advertisements.

International:

  • European stocks fell for a second day as releases showed China’s economic slowdown is taking its toll on Germany and sales of consumer companies.
  • Allianz SE, Europe’s biggest insurer, said third-quarter profit dropped 15 percent as earnings at its property and casualty and asset management units declined.
  • AstraZeneca Plc agreed to buy ZS Pharma for $2.7 billion in cash, scooping up a potential blockbuster medicine for a deadly blood condition that had also attracted Swiss drugmaker Actelion Ltd.
  • Barclays Plc’s new Chief Executive Officer Jes Staley will prioritize the investment bank’s advisory and execution operations and accelerate sales of unwanted assets, according to the bank’s Deputy Chairman Mike Rake.
  • Telecom Italia SpA’s non-voting savings shares rose as much as 8.5 percent in Milan as the indebted carrier reported its first quarterly growth in domestic mobile-service revenue since at least 2010 and proposed converting the share class into common stock to generate cash.
  • Asian stocks retreated as investors awaited U.S. jobs data to gauge whether the economy is strong enough to withstand the first Federal Reserve interest-rate increase in almost a decade.
  • Standard Chartered Plc shares slumped in Hong Kong after Fitch Ratings downgraded the bank, citing the outlook for the lender’s profits and asset quality.

Singapore Airlines Ltd. offered to pay S$453 million ($322 million) for the shares it doesn’t own in Tiger Airways Holdings Ltd., the money-losing low-cost unit it listed less than six years ago, saying it wants to enhance operations across the group’s network

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