In the Markets – Week-Ending March 4
Newsletter: In the Markets – Week-Ending February 26
Crystal Brook Advisors
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United States: Lending activity in Q4 continued to expand. That said, loan performance deteriorated over 2015, with delinquency rates rising for C&I loans and net charge-offs rising for total loans.(1) Slow growth in America’s major trading partners and dollar appreciation are leading to broad-based weakness in exports.(2)
Europe: Sweden GDP grew at an impressive 5.3 percent annualized pace in Q4 2015, led by strong growth in final domestic demand.(3) Swiss GDP grew 0.4 percent on a sequential basis in Q4 2015, although headline growth was overstated by an inventory build.(4)
Asia: The People’s Bank of China pulls $129 billion in biggest weekly withdrawal since 2013.The Reserve Bank of India has scope to cut interest rates immediately given the government’s pledge to narrow the budget deficit.(5)
Monday 02/29
• China’s central bank would be implementing additional stimulus measures in an effort to keep the nation’s economy advancing at healthy pace.(6)
Tuesday 03/01
• Besting consensus expectations, construction spending rose 1.5 percent in January, with increases in private and public spending.(7)
• The ISM manufacturing index rose almost to the break-even. At 49.5, it is roughly sideways, but at least not worse.(8)
Wednesday 03/02
• The Refinance Index decreased 7 percent week-over-week, and the refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to its lowest level since January 2016.(9)
Thursday 03/03
• The ISM Non-Manufacturing Index pulled back slightly in February with the employment component falling into contraction territory.(10)
• The 1.6 percent rise in factory orders was below consensus and follows a roughly 3 percent decline in the prior month.(11)
Friday 03/04
• Solid monthly job gains continued across a number of sectors in February. Average hourly earnings slowed as the result of a complex mix of sector gains.(12)
• Lula detention rattles Brazil as heat on Rousseff increases. Rousseff isn’t directly implicated in the latest investigation, which focuses on favors Lula and his family allegedly received from companies involved with Petrobras, the state oil company at the heart of the corruption probe.(13)
Market Close
U.S. stocks closed higher for the fourth straight day Friday as crude oil prices climbed and official data showed jobs growth in February was stronger than economists’ expected. The S&P 500 SPX, +0.33% gained 6.48 points, or 0.3%, to 1,999.91. The Dow industrials DJIA, +0.37% rose 62.66 points, or 0.4%, to 17,006.77, while the Nasdaq Composite NDAQ, -0.40% gained 9.6 points, or 0.2%, to 4,717.02. All three indexes have logged three straight weekly gains.(14)
Contributor: Felipe Vargas-Zúñiga
Sources:
(1) Source: FDIC, Federal Reserve Board and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC
(2) Source: U.S. Department of Commerce and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC
(3) Source: IHS Global Insight and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC
(4) Source: IHS Global Insight, Bloomberg LP and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC
(5) Source: Bloomberg
(6) Source: Value Line
(7) Source: U.S. Department of Commerce and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC
(8) Source: Institute for Supply Management, U.S. Depts. of Commerce and Labor and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC
(9) Source: Inman
(10) Source: Institute for Supply Management and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC
(11) Source: U.S. Department of Commerce and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC
(12) Source: U.S. Department of Labor and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC
(13) Source: Bloomberg
(14) Source: Marketwatch
