Markets digest Yellen speech... Scotiabank says commodities are set for a boost...
Markets digest Yellen speech
Wednesday’s session has provided much of the world with its first chance to react to Janet Yellen’s dovish speech. The cautious note of the Fed chair has played well with investors and most major world markets are trading higher as a result.
In Asia, indexes tracked Wall Street’s rise overnight and all but one closed the session higher. Japan was the trend-bucker as the Yellen speech weakened the US dollar and the gains for the yen was bad news for exporters.
European markets are also higher with London, Paris and Frankfurt all climbing around 1.5 per cent in early trade. The Fed stance has helped commodity prices overnight with oil advancing and energy and mining stocks seeing positive movement.
Wall Street and Toronto are expected to open higher. The EIA Petroleum Status Report and ADP Employment Report are due.
Scotiabank says commodities are set for a boost
The latest Commodity Price Index from Scotiabank shows a drop of 0.3 per cent in February; and 25 per cent year-over-year. It was the fourth consecutive monthly decline.
The good news is that the report calls for a “significant” rally in March following a weaker US dollar and some easing of concern over China’s economy.
"Equally important, hedge & investment funds appear to be looking for reasons to bid commodity prices higher, after the rout of recent years.," said Patricia Mohr, Vice President of Economics and Commodity Market Specialist at Scotiabank. "2016 should be a transition year for commodity prices, with the current slowdown in global capital spending in oil & gas and mining setting the stage for a strong rebound going into the next decade."
Zinc and copper have both been helped by demand outstripping supply with a surge in prices expected late 2016.
The Alberta oil sands should improve with lower costs helped by technology and boost competitiveness.
Wednesday’s session has provided much of the world with its first chance to react to Janet Yellen’s dovish speech. The cautious note of the Fed chair has played well with investors and most major world markets are trading higher as a result.
In Asia, indexes tracked Wall Street’s rise overnight and all but one closed the session higher. Japan was the trend-bucker as the Yellen speech weakened the US dollar and the gains for the yen was bad news for exporters.
European markets are also higher with London, Paris and Frankfurt all climbing around 1.5 per cent in early trade. The Fed stance has helped commodity prices overnight with oil advancing and energy and mining stocks seeing positive movement.
Wall Street and Toronto are expected to open higher. The EIA Petroleum Status Report and ADP Employment Report are due.
| Latest | 1 month ago | 1 year ago | |
| North America (previous session) |
|||
| US Dow Jones | 17,633.11 (+0.56 per cent) | +6.76 per cent | -1.91 per cent |
| TSX Composite | 13,426.23 (+0.27 per cent) | +4.40 per cent | -9.94 per cent |
| Europe (at 5.30am ET) |
|||
| UK FTSE | 6,201.18 (+1.56 per cent) | +1.71 per cent | -10.02 per cent |
| German DAX | 10,044.52 (+1.58 per cent) | +5.78 per cent | -16.89 per cent |
| Asia (at close) |
|||
| China CSI 300 | 3,216.28 (+2.58 per cent) | +11.77 per cent | -21.33 per cent |
| Japan Nikkei | 16,878.96 (-1.31 per cent) | +5.32 per cent | -13.05 per cent |
| Other Data (at 6.30am ET) |
|||
| Oil (Brent) | Oil (WTI) | Gold | Can. Dollar |
| 39.63 (+1.25 per cent) |
38.92 (+1.67 per cent) |
1236.60 (+0.06 per cent) |
U$0.7671 |
| Aus. Dollar |
|||
| U$0.7662 | |||
Scotiabank says commodities are set for a boost
The latest Commodity Price Index from Scotiabank shows a drop of 0.3 per cent in February; and 25 per cent year-over-year. It was the fourth consecutive monthly decline.
The good news is that the report calls for a “significant” rally in March following a weaker US dollar and some easing of concern over China’s economy.
"Equally important, hedge & investment funds appear to be looking for reasons to bid commodity prices higher, after the rout of recent years.," said Patricia Mohr, Vice President of Economics and Commodity Market Specialist at Scotiabank. "2016 should be a transition year for commodity prices, with the current slowdown in global capital spending in oil & gas and mining setting the stage for a strong rebound going into the next decade."
Zinc and copper have both been helped by demand outstripping supply with a surge in prices expected late 2016.
The Alberta oil sands should improve with lower costs helped by technology and boost competitiveness.
