This morning, investment bankers are the winners as markets assess M&A deals, economic data and the ongoing Ukraine situation. Europe is in the green on Pfizer’s U$100bln deal for AstraZeneca and GE’s bid for Alstrom continues despite France’s defending national interest by seeking alternative offers. In overnight transactions, all Asian indices sold off with Nikkei leading the way down 1.50% despite a 6.30% surge in retail sales as consumers stock were up prior to the sales tax increase in April. In the U.S, M&A news and economic releases are in the spotlight this week with the Fed Policy meeting, Q1 GDP numbers, and non-farm payroll taking centre stage. This morning better than expected pending home sales and M&A news are catapulting the markets upward. On a downer note, Bank of America suspended their U$4bln share buyback program and planned dividend increases sighting the company’s cash position and miscalculation of funds required for the Merrill Lynch deal in 2009. At home, TSX is so far flat but look for the earnings from Suncor, Imperial Oil, Cenovus, and CDN Natural Resources this the week to set the tone. On the M&A front closer to home; Newmont Mining is ending discussions with Barrack Gold leading to speculation that Barrick will launch a hostile bid Currently the S&P500 is up 11 to 1,874 the DOW is up 95 to 16,457 and the TSX is up 7 to 14,540. The Loonie is up slightly to US$0.9062. Bond yields are up with the CDA 5-year at 1.69% and the 10-year is at 2.43%. Gold is a loser today down $6.70 to US$1,294/oz. Silver is down 16 cents to US$19.56/oz, natural gas is up 11 cent to US$4.79/btu and Oil is down 9 cents to US$100.51/barrel Have a great start to the week!
Posted on: Mon, 28 Apr 2014 17:34:10 +0000
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