Morning Briefing: Markets higher post-Fed, commodities rebound

Markets higher post-Fed, commodities rebound
Markets have been digesting the decision of the Fed to increase US interest rates by 25 basis points and the strong handover from Wall Street from the previous session.

A weaker greenback has given a boost to gold and oil prices.

Asian indexes closed mostly higher as events in the US and regional issues including the bank of Japan’s decision to maintain monetary policy and a 10-basis-point rise in China’s short-term lending rate. 

Australian labour market data showed weaker-than-expected figures. Hong Kong was the star performer, closing more than 2 per cent higher.

In Europe, the Fed and Wall Street are also in focus along with the result of the Dutch elections which returned prime minister Mark Rutte who saw off a challenge from the far-right. 

Although it may take many weeks for Rutte to form a coalition government, the defeat of Geert Wilders’ anti-EU party has been welcomed by leaders across the bloc. Equity indexes are trending higher.

Wall Street and Toronto are expected to open higher. US housing and jobless claims data are due.
 

	Latest	1 month ago	1 year ago
North America (previous session)
US Dow Jones	20,950.10 (+0.54 per cent)	+1.60 per cent	+20.92 per cent
TSX Composite	15,520.91 (+0.92 per cent)	-2.16 per cent	+15.16 per cent
Europe (at 5.00am ET)
UK FTSE	7,432.52 (+0.87 per cent)	+2.12 per cent	+20.36 per cent
German DAX	12,136.12 (+1.05 per cent)	+3.22 per cent	+21.56 per cent
Asia (at close)
China CSI 300	3,481.51 (+0.52 per cent)	+1.18 per cent	+12.67 per cent
Japan Nikkei	19,590.14 (+0.07 per cent)	+1.25 per cent	+15.41 per cent
Other Data (at 5.00am ET)
Oil (Brent)	Oil (WTI)	Gold	Can. Dollar
52.29 (+0.93 per cent)	49.33 (+0.96 per cent)	1223.90 (+1.93 per cent)	U$0.7510
			Aus. Dollar
			U$0.7689

Canadian households now owe $22,113 
A report from Equifax Canada shows a combined consumer debt of $1.718 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2016, up 6 per cent year-over-year; the average Canadian household owes $22,113.

Almost half of consumers are decreasing their debt, but more than a third are increasing their borrowing. Mortgages aside, increases in the auto loans and instalment loans sectors are almost 8 per cent.

Equifax figures show that seniors’ debt has increased the most (6.1 per cent year-over-year) while those in the 36-45 age group have the lowest increase (1.8 per cent) along with younger millennials (1.9 per cent). Older millennials increased their debt by 2.7 per cent.