October, 31st 2016

Daily Market Commentary

 

ECONOMIC NEWS

  • U.S. stock-index futures were little changed after equities slid to a six-week low, as investors prepared for this week’s Federal Reserve meeting and the final days of the presidential race.
  • The pound is the world’s worst-performing currency this month, trailing behind about 150 peers, as the first signs of how Brexit will look emerged in October.

Commodities:

  • Metals: Gold: 1274.12 (-$1.35, -0.11%), Silver: 17.84 (+$0.08, +0.44%); Copper: 2.1925 (-0.05%); Zinc: 1.0943 (+0.68%)
  • Energy: Crude: 48.44 (-0.53%); Brent: 49.35 (-0.72%); Nat Gas: 3.11 (+0.13%)
  • Energy shares declined along with the price of oil, after the world’s biggest producers failed to agree on supply cuts this past weekend between OPEC and other major producers.
  • Gold rose on Friday as U.S. polls showed that Hillary Clinton may have lost some ground to Donald Trump, following the FBI’s announcement.

 

Canada:

  • Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signed free-trade pact with the European Union, after finally overcoming objections from Belgium.
  • Suncor Energy today announced it has reached an agreement to sell its Petro-Canada Lubricants Inc. (PCLI) business to a subsidiary of HollyFrontier Corporation for gross proceeds of $1.125 billion.
  • Performance Sports Group Ltd., the maker of Bauer and Easton sports equipment brands, plans to seek bankruptcy protection, with a rescue plan from its two largest shareholders (Sagard Capital Partners & Brookfield Asset Management.

United States:

  • As reported last week, General Electric has agreed to combine its oil and gas business with Baker Hughes. GE will own a 62.5% stake in the combined entity, which will be publicly traded. GE will contribute &.4 billion to fund a special dividend of $17.50 a share to Baker Hughes stockholders.
  • Sony Corp. cut its annual profit forecast by 10 percent after taking an impairment on the sale of its battery.
  • Dominion Resources Inc.’s midstream unit will buy Questar Pipeline LLC for about $1.725 billion in a deal that will become effective Dec. 1. The deal includes Questar’s current debt of $435 million.
  • CenturyLink Inc. agreed to buy Level 3 Communications Inc. for about $34 billion cash and stock.
  • Chevron Corp. raised its cost estimate for Wheatstone LNG by 17 percent to $34 billion, the second gas export project in Australia that the company has said will cost more than planned after its Gorgon venture ballooned by nearly half to $54 billion.

International:

  • The worst cash squeeze at Saudi Arabian banks since the financial crisis is easing. A key interest rate used to price loans in the kingdom dropped on Sunday by the most in more than seven years, a sign that government measures to alleviate a liquidity shortage are working.
  • Foreign investors’ purchases of Chinese bonds will probably surge more than fourfold in the coming two years as global central banks diversify their reserves. Monetary authorities and supranational organizations will lead buying of about $48 billion each in 2017 and 2018.
  • Euro-area growth stayed its course in the third quarter, a sign the European Central Bank’s efforts to revive the economy have borne fruit even in the face of inadequate structural reforms. Gross domestic product rose 0.3 percent in the three months to September, according to an initial estimate published by the European Union’s statistics office on Monday.
  • Egypt has reached a currency swap agreement with China valued at $2.7 billion, moving closer to meet the terms required to clinch a $12 billion loan accord with the International Monetary Fund.
  • Japan’s three biggest shippers agreed to combine their container operations to create the world’s sixth-largest box carrier, as the industry steps up consolidation this year amid a global turmoil in the sea-cargo business.
  • K-Electric Ltd. rose to a 20-month high after Shanghai Electric Power Co. agreed to buy a controlling stake in the Pakistani utility for $1.77 billion.
  • China General Nuclear Power Corp., which bought embattled state fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd.’s power assets for $2.3 billion this year, is considering listing the business as early as 2017.

 

 

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