While You Were Sleeping - 1 November 2013 Courtesy of RIMsec Fixed Interest Specialists Overnight markets… US stocks closed lower for a second consecutive day but all three major indexes still managed to end October with solid monthly gains of between 3% and 4.5%. Dragging on both the Dow and S&P 500 was Visa Inc. which lost 3.5% after the world’s largest credit and debit card company reported a 28% drop in quarterly profit. Of the day’s gainers, shares of Exxon Mobil rose 0.9% after the oil company reported adjusted third-quarter earnings that beat expectations. Expedia (up 18%) and Facebook (up 2.4%) both continued gains after each had released positive results after the bell on Wednesday. On the data front there wasn’t a whole lot in the US but jobless claims did fall 10,000 to 340,000 for the week. At the close the Dow had lost 0.47%, the S&P 500 had given up 0.38% while the Nasdaq dipped 0.28%. Price moves... The euro was headed for its biggest one-day drop against the dollar in more than six months overnight as a sharp decline in euro-zone inflation and continued record high unemployment stoked speculation that the ECB may need to do more. Euro-zone inflation fell to nearly four-year lows in October to 0.8% from 1% annually. Unemployment is stubbornly stuck at 12.2% increasing pressure on the ECB to do more. The central bank meets next Thursday. At the end of the session the euro had lost 1.1% to be at $1.3583. Weakness in the euro helped buoy the dollar to a two-week high against a basket of major currencies while also getting a boost from the readjustment in market expectations on the timing of tapering after the FOMC meeting. There was a bit of a commodity rout on last night with gold falling a hefty 2% to $1322.50, while silver was hit hard, down 4.7%. Copper (down 0.75%) and crude (down 0.4%) were also along for the ride. In other news... Building approvals jumped to a three-year high in September with ABS data showing that the number of approvals increased by a seasonally adjusted 14.4% versus expectations for a lift of just 2.8%. Building approvals are now 18.6% higher than in the same month last year. Private detached approvals rose just 1.5% in the month leaving another big spike in high density housing.
Posted on: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 22:52:40 +0000
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