Daily Wrap-up: Trump threat hits auto makers, gold gains

Trump threat hits auto makers, gold gains... Pace slows for Canadian home prices... Canada’s richest duo wealthier than poorest 30 per cent... National Bank hires CIBC’s Nowlan...

Daily Wrap-up: Trump threat hits auto makers, gold gains
Steve Randall
Trump threat hits auto makers, gold gains
Wall Street may have been closed Monday but there was still plenty of US influence on world markets.

Donald Trump’s latest threat to auto makers is causing concern among auto manufacturers and those that make vehicle parts, including Canada’s Magna International. The Aurora-based firm lost 3 per cent on fears of a new US border tax.

The main TSX index closed lower as only half of its ten main groups closed higher with the heavily-weighted financials among those losing.

Energy stocks were also lower as concern grew over the impact of the output caps agreed before Christmas as US output rises. The materials group saw mixed fortunes. Gold was higher ahead of the new US president’s inauguration Friday.

Asian and European markets were largely lower.
 
The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed down 17.99 (0.12 per cent)
The Dow was closed for Martin Luther King Day
Oil is trending higher (Brent $55.70, WTI $52.64 at 4.45pm)
Gold is trending higher (1202.60 at 4.45pm)
The loonie is valued at U$0.7583
 
Pace slows for Canadian home prices
The Canadian Real Estate Association reported that sales in December were up 2.2 per cent following November’s weaker figures following the new mortgage rules.

Average price was $470,661, up 3.5 per cent and the slowest pace in around two years. The whole-year total home sales for 2016 was a record $263 billion but analysts are not expecting the same in 2017 due to the tighter lending criteria.
 
Canada’s richest duo wealthier than poorest 30 per cent
Oxfam International’s global wealth inequality report reveals that two Canadians - David Thomson and Galen Weston Sr. - control more wealth than the poorest 30 per cent in the country, around 11 million people.

The report, which also reveals that 8 men control more wealth than around 50 per cent of the global population, was released ahead of the World Economic Forum which begins Tuesday in Davos, Switzerland.
 
National Bank hires CIBC’s Nowlan
Veteran CIBC Capital Markets’ Dan Nowlan is joining National Bank as vice-chair, the Globe and Mail reports. Nowlan was chief of staff for the former finance minister Joe Oliver between periods at CIBC.
 

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