The Weekly Bottom Line
TD Economics www.td.com/economics
February 4, 2011
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK United States • It was another busy week both at home and abroad, with political turmoil in the Middle-East influencing food and energy prices, while a string of mixed data reports showed mixed signals about the U.S. recovery. • On the data front, the two ISM surveys showed a clear acceleration in the pace of U.S. economic growth. However, Friday’s much anticipated non-farm payrolls release of 36K was a clear disappointment. • Regardless, stocks seem to have taken the sluggish job numbers in stride, and the S&P500 is well poised to end the week in positive territory. • There was also plenty of action in bond markets this week, as US yields crept up across the curve. Canada • With real GDP advancing by a solid 0.4% M/M in November, economic growth in Q4/2010 is on track to hit the TD Economics and Bank of Canada forecast of 2.3% (Q/Q annualized). If anything, there is upside risk to that forecast, yet not large enough to warrant a departure from the Bank of Canada’s dovish tone. • Employment surged at the onset of 2011, with 69K net new jobs created in January. However, an even larger surge of 106K in the labour force increased the unemployment rate by 0.2 percentage points to 7.8%. The composition of job gains across industries, private/public sectors, full-time/part-time tenures, and regions was well balanced. Meanwhile, wage growth remained modest but notched up slightly to 2.3% Y/Y for permanent employees. In the near-term, wage growth is unlikely to dip back down to the 1.9% Y/Y trough recorded in October 2010.
THIS WEEK IN THE MARKETS Current*
Week Ago
52-Week 52-Week High Low
Stock Market Indexes S&P 500 1308 1276 1308 1023 S&P/TSX Comp. 13841 13438 13841 11093 DAX 7201 7103 7201 5434 FTSE 100 6001 5881 6056 4806 Nikkei 10544 10360 11339 8824 Fixed Income Yields U.S. 10-yr Treasury 3.62 3.32 3.99 2.38 Canada 10-yr Bond 3.46 3.25 3.72 2.69 Germany 10-yr Bund 3.25 3.15 3.29 2.12 UK 10-yr Gilt 3.81 3.65 4.23 2.83 Japan 10-yr Bond 1.29 1.22 1.41 0.85 Foreign Exchange Cross Rates C$ (USD per CAD) 1.01 1.00 1.01 0.93 Euro (USD per EUR) 1.36 1.36 1.42 1.19 Pound (USD per GBP) 1.61 1.59 1.63 1.43 Yen (JPY per USD) 81.8 82.1 94.6 80.4 Commodity Spot Prices** Crude Oil ($US/bbl) 91.4 89.3 92.2 66.0 Natural Gas ($US/MMBtu) 4.70 4.29 5.73 3.18 Copper ($US/met. tonne) 9943.8 9544.5 9970.0 6067.8 Gold ($US/troy oz.) 1356.6 1336.8 1423.8 1062.9 *as of 10 am on Friday, **Oil-WTI, Cushing, Nat. Gas-Henry Hub, LA (Thursday close price), Copper-LME Grade A, Gold-London Gold Bullion; Source: Bloomberg
U.S. NONFARM PAYROLL EMPLOYMENT 500
Monthly change, thousands
300 100 -100 -300
Total
-500
Private Sector
-700 -900 Jan-09
Jan-10
Jan-11
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics / Haver Analytics.
GLOBAL OFFICIAL POLICY RATE TARGETS Current Target 0 - 0.25% Federal Reserve (Fed Funds Rate) 1.00% Bank of Canada (Overnight Rate) 1.00% European Central Bank (Refi Rate) 0.50% Bank of England (Repo Rate) 0.00% Bank of Japan (Overnight Rate) Source: Central Banks, Haver Analytics