News Results

The University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment index rises to 57.3 in February from 56.4 in January, higher than expectations for a decrease to 55.0 in a survey compiled by Bloomberg. This is the highest reading since August 2025, Michigan said.

Rosenberg Research revised its briefly-held constructive view on the Canadian dollar in light of the economy's "complete failure to respond to the Bank of Canada's rate cuts so far. Although the Canadian dollar has rallied against the US dollar in the last few months, this has been a consequence of US dollar weakness rather than loonie strength, noted Rosenberg Research.

The broad market exchange-traded fund SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust was up 0.6% and the actively traded Invesco QQQ Trust was 0.7% higher in Friday's premarket activity, ahead of the University of Michigan consumer sentiment report release.

Employment in Canada fell to start the year, but with fewer people seeking jobs, the unemployment rate also surprisingly came down, said CIBC after Friday's Labour Force Survey. The 25,000 decline in employment compared with a consensus expectation for a 5,000 gain, although the reduction was driven exclusively by part-time positions, with full-time jobs actually increasing, noted the bank.

Employment edged down in January by 25,000 jobs, or 0.1% month over month, and the employment rate decreased 0.1 percentage point to 60.8%, said Statistics Canada on Friday it its Labour Force Survey. January's job losses were worse than the 5,200 consensus gain provided by MUFG. In January, employment fell by 27,000 among core-aged women, wrote Canada's statistical agency in a statement.

The US dollar fell against its major trading partners early Friday ahead of the release of the University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment index for February at 10:00 am ET, followed by the St. Louis Federal Reserve's latest gross domestic product Nowcast estimate for Q4 around midday.

Canada will publish the Labour Force Survey for January at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday, said Scotiabank. The bank has gone with an estimated gain of 15,000 and a stable unemployment rate of 6.8%. Canada has surprisingly created almost 200,000 jobs over the past four months of consecutive gains, stated Scotiabank.

The Board of Mexico's central bank unanimously decided to keep the policy rate unchanged at 7.00% on Thursday, signaling that demand-side pressures aren't a key driver behind its policy assessment, said BBVA Research.

European bourses tracked moderately higher midday Friday as traders weighed earnings, and Thursday's report from the European Central Bank that the continental economy is expanding, and inflation is generally muted. Bank, oil, and property stocks led gains on regional trading floors, while food and retail shares lagged.

Sterling has weakened sharply over the last couple of trading days, said MUFG. After closing below support from the 200-day moving average at the start of this week for the first time sine April of last year and hitting a low of 0.8613, EUR/GBP jumped to a high Thursday of 0.8721, wrote the bank in a note to clients.

Societe Generale in its early Friday economic news summary pointed out: -- Losses snowball for tech stocks, crypto correction deepens, Nasdaq -6.4% from January top, US dollar and United States Treasury safe-havens. -- India: The central bank leaves key repo rate unchanged at 5.25%, maintains neutral stance, growth outlook favorable on recent trade deals.

MPLX (MPLX) said late Thursday it priced a $1.5 billion public offering of unsecured senior notes. The offering comprises $1 billion of 5.3% notes due 2036 and $500 million of 6.1% notes due 2056. The company expects the offering to close Feb. 12 and plans to use the net proceeds to repay its outstanding $1.5 billion of 1.75% senior notes due March 2026 at maturity.

US equity indexes fell on Thursday, with the Nasdaq Composite plunging more than 360 points and the Dow Jones Industrial Average diving almost 600 points, as weak labor market reports sank Treasury yields and investors remained cautious about big tech's AI spending plans.

The Toronto Stock Exchange closed sharply lower on Thursday for the second time in a week, with the resources-heavy exchange weighed down by deflated commodity prices and fresh economic updates, as data showed signs of a slowdown in the U.S. labor market and as Desjardins noted the Bank of Canada Governor has thrown "more cold water on the possibility of rate cuts".

InPlay Oil (IPOOF) said Thursday afternoon it plans to issue up to 550 million New Israeli Shekels in senior unsecured bonds in Israel. The bonds will mature on Dec. 15, 2030, rank equally with InPlay's other senior unsecured debt, and carry an interest rate set by auction, capped at 6.23% per year.

Financial stocks were decreasing in late Thursday afternoon trading, with the NYSE Financial Index falling 1% and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF dropping 1.1%. The Philadelphia Housing Index was fractionally lower, and the State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF was down 0.4%. Bitcoin was falling past 12% to $63,966 and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries dropped 6.5 ...

Financial stocks were decreasing in late Thursday afternoon trading, with the NYSE Financial Index falling 1% and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF dropping 1.1%. The Philadelphia Housing Index was fractionally lower, and the State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF was down 0.4%. Bitcoin was falling past 12% to $63,966 and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries dropped 6.5 ...

Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said that he believes the FOMC should hold rates steady in 2026 and that it will take time for Kevin Warsh, the nominee to replace Jerome Powell as Fed share, to convince a majority of the committee that rates need to be lower.

Financial stocks were decreasing in Thursday afternoon trading, with the NYSE Financial Index falling 1.3% and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF dropping 1.3%. The Philadelphia Housing Index was shedding 0.7%, and the State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF was down 0.2%. Bitcoin was falling past 10% to $65,605 and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries was dropping 6.5 bas...

Gold traded lower midafternoon on Thursday as the metal failed to find support at the US$5,000 mark a day earlier, even as treasury yields weaken amid further signs the U.S. labor market is slowing. Gold for March delivery was last seen down US$60.50 to US$4,890.30 per ounce.

Financial stocks were decreasing in Thursday afternoon trading, with the NYSE Financial Index falling 1.3% and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF dropping 1.3%. The Philadelphia Housing Index was shedding 0.7%, and the State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF was down 0.2%. Bitcoin was falling past 10% to $65,605 and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries was dropping 6.5 bas...

The buyer base of United States Treasuries is shifting towards investors who are more price sensitive, said Desjardins. Official accounts, which include central banks, some sovereign wealth funds and some international pensions, have been reducing their ownership share of USTs, stated Desjardins.

The European stock markets were tracking lower in Thursday trading as The Stoxx Europe fell 1.1%, Germany's DAX dropped 0.5%, the FTSE 100 lost 0.9%, France's CAC was down 0.3%, and the Swiss Market Index declined 0.3%. The European Central Bank decided to keep its three key interest rates unchanged.

The Czech central bank on Thursday said its board kept interest rates unchanged, with the two-week repo rate at 3.50%, the discount rate at 2.50% and the Lombard rate at 4.50%. This decision was expected by market analysts, Societe Generale noted before the decision. All seven members voted in favor of this decision, wrote CNB in its policy statement.

President Christine Lagarde's comments at Thursday's policy meeting press conference seemed to create more confusion than certainty over the next European Central Bank move, said ING.

Thursday's wafer-thin majority on the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee in favor of holding Bank Rate at 3.75% instead of lowering it by 25bp indicates that it won't be long before the BoE lowers interest rates again, said Berenberg. The 5-4 vote was much closer than the consensus of 7-2, noted the bank.

Gold futures fell early Thursday as the metal failed to find support at the US$5,000 mark a day earlier, even as treasury yields weaken amid further signs the U.S. labor market is slowing. Gold for March delivery was last seen down $105.80 to US$4,845.00 per ounce.

US equity futures were down ahead of Thursday's opening bell as traders digested labor market data ahead Amazon's (AMZN) earnings report. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were 0.3% lower, S&P 500 futures were down 0.5%, and Nasdaq futures were 0.7% lower. Amazon (AMZN) is scheduled to report earnings after the closing bell.

The European Central Bank decided to keep rates on hold on Thursday, said ING. The official policy announcement also illustrates that the ECB still sits comfortably in its 'good place', wrote the bank in a note. As the last ECB rate cut dates back to June last year, it's fair to say that the hurdle to cut again is very high, stated ING.

US initial jobless claims rose to a level of 231,000 in the week ended Jan. 31 from an unrevised 209,000 level in the previous week, compared with expectations for a smaller increase to 212,000 in survey of analysts compiled by Bloomberg. The four-week moving average increased by 6,000 to 212,250 after increasing by 2,250 to a level of 206,250 in the previous week.

The US dollar rose against its major trading partners early Thursday ahead of the release of weekly jobless claims data at 8:30 am ET, rescheduled job openings and hiring data for December at 10:00 am ET and weekly natural gas stocks data at 10:30 am ET. Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic is due to speak at 10:50 am ET.

BBVA Research said it expects Mexico's central bank to leave the policy rate unchanged at 7.00% later Thursday and to continue to stress downside risks to growth despite near-term inflation risks. BBVA Research estimates that Banxico will revise its inflation forecasts upward.