Morning Briefing: Oil boost equity markets

Oil boost equity markets... IMF says global recession is “not baseline scenario”... Asia leads Europe on M&A...

Steve Randall
Oil boost equity markets
Energy stocks have boosted world stock markets so far Wednesday as they did in the previous session. Brent Crude is currently trading above $50 for the first time in four weeks and West Texas Intermediate is not far from that. The EIA said Tuesday that demand is expected to increase while non-OPEC supply will be lower.

Asian markets have closed higher but there was no surprise from the Bank of Japan which had been expected to conclude a two-day meeting with a possible interest rate cut. However it left policy unchanged.

European indexes are also trading higher on energy stocks; Germany is leading the pack with gains of more than 1 per cent.
Wall Street and the TSX are expected to open higher, buoyed by Asia and Europe. Markets will be awaiting minutes of the Fed’s recent meeting which are due Thursday.
 
  Latest 1 month ago 1 year ago
 
North America (previous session)
US Dow Jones 16,790.19 (+0.08 per cent) +4.27 per cent +0.42 per cent
TSX Composite 13,647.26 (+0.70 per cent) +1.25 per cent -6.37 per cent
 
Europe (at 5.40am ET)
UK FTSE 6,373.26 (+0.74 per cent) +4.92 per cent - 1.88 per cent
German DAX 10,024.74 (+1.23 per cent) -0.83 per cent +10.33 per cent
 
Asia (at close)
China CSI 300 3,202.95 (+0.76 per cent) -4.73 per cent +30.68 per cent
Japan Nikkei 18,322.98 (+0.75 per cent) +2.59 per cent +16.09 per cent
 
Other Data (at 5.40am ET)
Oil (Brent) Oil (WTI) Gold Can. Dollar
52.71
(+1.52 per cent)
49.40
(+1.79 per cent)
1147.40
(+0.09 per cent)
U$0.7680
 
Aus. Dollar
U$0.7195

IMF says global recession is “not baseline scenario”
The International Monetary Fund reduced its outlook for the global economy Tuesday. The organization sees a 3.1 per cent growth, down from 3.3 per cent that it forecast in July. The US is expected to see a 2.6 per cent rise with the UK expected to gain by 2.2 per cent. Canada is expected to see 1.7 per cent and the other G7 nations; Germany, France, Italy, and Japan; are not forecast for more than a 2 per cent rise in GDP this year.
 
Asia leads Europe on M&A
Mergers and acquisitions have soared in Asia during the first 9 months of 2015 and now account for the second highest level by value behind the US. Asian deals amounted to $770.9 billion, overtaking Europe according to Dealogic data. About half of the Asian total involved Chinese firms. Global deals amounted to $3.41 trillion. 
 

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