Despite a decline in manufacturing shipments, the Canadian dollar continued to push forward amidst a surge in oil prices, as commodities including oil account for almost 50 percent of Canadian exports.
PetroChina dropped out of a $3 billion pipeline deal with Enbridge Inc., leaving their Canadian partner to pursue the pipeline by themselves. The pipeline was designed to transfer a daily 400,000 barrels of crude oil from Alberta’s oil sands to the Asian markets as well as California.
http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2007/07/13/enbridge-gateway.html
[I]Source: CBC[/I]
Canadian factory shipments fell due to a swelling Canadian dollar and a decline in metal deliveries. Factory shipments fell 0.1 percent, missing analyst expectations of a gain of 0.2 percent.
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=bf96b41c-80ef-49bf-8df7-7591ee61d4f3&k=77186
[I]Source: Financial Post[/I]
After a recent withdrawal from a buyout offer for aluminum producer Alcan, Alcoa Inc. now seems to be the cause of buyout speculation. BHP Billiton Ltd. is allegedly considering a $41 billion takeover of Alcoa Inc.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=aV2O92iYyrK8&refer=canada
[I]Source: Bloomberg[/I]
[B]Currency Markets: USD/CAD[/B]
Despite a decline in manufacturing shipments, the Canadian dollar continued to push forward amidst a surge in oil prices, as commodities including oil account for almost 50 percent of Canadian exports. Manufacturing shipments dropped 0.1 percent, holding back the Loonie from 30 year highs. With economic indicators printing lackluster results, Bank of Canada?s need for a “modest” increase may be postponed. The USD/CAD was most recently quoted at 1.042.
[B]Equity Markets: S&P/TSX Index
[/B]The S&P/TSX Index fell today, led by uranium producer Cameco Corp. as natural gas futures fell on concerns of overpriced uranium shares. Cameco lost 4.5 percent to C$50.85, while EnCana Corp., Canada?s largest natural gas producer, dropped 1.5 percent to C$66.26. The energy sector felt its biggest decline in almost a month. The S&P/TSX was most recently quoted down -112.24 points at 14,384.26.
[B]Fixed Income Markets: Canadian 10-Year Government Bond[/B]
Canadian 10-year bonds got a boost today after overpricing concerns caused natural gas futures to fall, leaving investors running for cover. Additionally, lackluster manufacturing data may suspend any active monetary policy from Bank of Canada. However, interest rate futures are still pricing in not one, but two rate increases from the Bank of Canada by year-end. The Canadian 10-year government bond was most recently quoted at 95.520, yielding 4.6 percent.
