Author: xPortfolios

Canada's main stock index is set to reach a new record high by the end of 2025, helped by lower borrowing costs, but an uncertain outlook for global trade could limit gains and potentially trigger a correction, a Reuters poll found.The median prediction of 19 portfolio managers and strategists in the February 13-25 poll was for the S&P/TSX Composite index (.GSPTSE) to rise 5.4% to 26,500 by year-end, eclipsing January's record high and close to the 26,550 level expected in a November poll.The index was then expected to reach 26,710 by mid-2026, a gain of 6.2%, compared with the previous forecast of 27,500.U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports are "on time and on schedule" despite efforts by the countries to beef up border security and halt the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. ahead of a March 4 deadline.Canada sends about 75% of its exports to the United States."Canadian equities are likely to underperform relative to historical averages due to uncertainty around trade policies which is likely to weigh on not just Canadian but global growth," said Tiago Figueiredo, a macro strategist at Desjardins."Companies and sectors with greater exposure to the U.S. will…

Futures for Canada's main stock index rose on Wednesday as robust earnings for National Bank of Canada boosted sentiment, while investors looked ahead to chip giant Nvidia's quarterly results.March futures on the S&P/TSX index were up 0.34% at 7.25 a.m. ET (1225 GMT).National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) on Wednesday reported a higher first-quarter profit helped by robust performance in its wealth management unit.The earnings come at the heels of Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) and Bank of Montreal's (BMO.TO) results which beat analysts' expectations for quarterly profit.Nvidia's after-hours results remain in focus as investors scrutinize AI spending levels, particularly after January's market jitters triggered by China's DeepSeek announcing low-cost competition.Meanwhile, global market sentiment is buoyed as U.S. President Donald Trump's $4.5 trillion tax-cut and border security agenda will be sent to the U.S. Senate after passing the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.Back home, a Reuters poll found TSX is set to reach a new record high by the end of 2025, helped by lower borrowing costs, but an uncertain outlook for global trade could limit gains and potentially trigger a correction.The benchmark index gained on Tuesday, with robust bank earnings offsetting oil price declines.Among commodities, copper prices were slightly higher in…

The European Union plans to urge India to lower its high tariffs on cars and wine to boost trade, as it seeks to reduce its reliance on China, a senior official from the bloc said, ahead of a visit by the European Commission president to New Delhi.Echoing U.S. President Donald Trump's threat of reciprocal tariffs, the official said the EU would press India to cut tariffs on some goods and broaden market access for its products, while offering flexibility on agriculture issues to expedite free trade agreement talks."The Indian market is relatively closed, especially to key products of commercial interest to the European Union and our member states’ industries, including cars, wines and spirits," said the official, who requested anonymity due to the confidential nature of the discussions.EC President Ursula von der Leyen's two-day visit from Thursday, accompanied by leaders of EU member nations, coincides with escalating geopolitical tensions, with Brussels and New Delhi set to outline key areas for deeper cooperation under their strategic partnership.Leyen will meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, followed by discussions with trade minister Piyush Goyal.The next trade negotiations round is scheduled for March 10-14 in Brussels.The EU's call for lower tariffs comes…

China's market regulator held a symposium on fair competition with executives from seven companies, including Alibaba (9988.HK) and LONGi Green Energy (601012.SS), the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) said on Wednesday in a statement.The executives at the symposium on Tuesday discussed the market environment, competition, and difficulties they face, and put forward suggestions for opposing monopolies and unfair competition, the statement said.It quoted Meng Yang, the regulator's deputy director, as saying the SAMR would hold seminars regularly to respond to firms' concerns and create a fairer market environment.Other companies taking part on Tuesday included Trina Solar (688599.SS), JA Solar (002459.SZ), JD.com (9618.HK), BAIC Group (1958.HK) and Mercedes-Benz (MBGn.DE).China is encouraging its private firms to invest and innovate more to try to stem a slowdown in growth and counter U.S. efforts to limit China's technological development.Chinese President Xi Jinping last week held a rare meeting with some of the country's top entrepreneurs, including Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma, highlighting that concern and marking a turnaround in Beijing's approach to its tech giants after a regulatory clampdown four years ago.China also issued a plan last week to stabilise foreign investment.Source: Reuters.com

U.S. Treasury yields regained some lost ground on Wednesday after the House of Representatives advanced President Donald Trump's tax-cut agenda, while the dollar and oil prices struggled on mounting worries over the U.S. growth outlook.U.S. copper prices surged more than 4% while those elsewhere fell overnight after Trump on Tuesday ordered a probe into potential new tariffs on copper imports.The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives late on Tuesday narrowly passed Trump's $4.5 trillion tax-cut plan, sending the budget resolution to the Senate, where Republicans are expected to take it up.U.S. Treasury yields advanced on the news as investors anticipate more debt issuance ahead, with the benchmark 10-year yield rising roughly 3 basis points to 4.3271%.The two-year yield rose 2.7 bps to 4.1229%."(The plan) moved through just a little bit quicker than people were expecting," said Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG. "You can see the way that yields are moving, it certainly caught them off guard a little bit."Yields had fallen to their lowest in months in the previous session as traders ramped up bets of more Federal Reserve rate cuts this year, on growing concerns over the outlook for the world's largest economy.Data on Tuesday showed U.S. consumer…

Australian consumer prices dipped month-on-month in January, dragged lower by a slowdown in housing costs and a drop in holiday travel, an outcome that should help reassure policymakers that inflation is heading in the right direction.Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday showed the monthly consumer price index (CPI) fell 0.2% in January from December, when it rose 0.8%. The annual pace held at 2.5%, matching market forecasts.The trimmed mean measure of core inflation rose an annual 2.8% in January, up from 2.7% in December.Analysts have cautioned that the January report only covers a portion of the full CPI basket and is concentrated on goods rather than services. Swaps continued to price just a 17% probability for a follow-up interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) in April, while a move in July has been fully priced in."The relatively soft CPI print for January should ease some of the RBA’s concerns about the stickiness of inflation, paving the way for it to cut rates a bit further," said Abhijit Surya, senior APAC economist at Capital Economics.Encouragingly, new dwelling prices, which capture new builds and major renovations, rose 2.0% in January from a year earlier, the…

Feb 25 (Reuters) - Canadian factory sales most likely rose 2.0% in January from December, largely driven by higher sales in motor vehicle industry group, as well as the primary metal subsectors, Statistics Canada said in a flash estimate on Tuesday.The estimate was calculated based on a weighted response rate of 62.4%. The average weighted response rate for the survey over the previous 12 months has been 93.6%.NOTE: All figures are seasonally adjusted.(Reporting by Dale Smith; editing by Promit Mukherjee) (([email protected]))Keywords: CANADA ECONOMY/MANUFACTURINGSource: Reuters.com

U.S. investor Carson Block is weighing plans for an India fund which could be based on a 'long-only' or 'long-short' strategy but would not look at activist short-selling in the country, he told Reuters."The question we are asking is whether we would want to do long-short or long-only (in India)," Block said in an interview in Mumbai."But we wouldn't be doing activist short selling...I don't think that would enable us to have a successful fund management business here," he said.Block, whose Muddy Waters Research came into the spotlight for uncovering fraud at Chinese companies, is yet to finalise plans for India.Block has recently launched an investment vehicle in Vietnam after having run a long-only position in the country for a few years. Potential investors have suggested the fund look to do "something similar" in India, he said."I could see possibly a portfolio where maybe there are 20 names on the short side, each 1 to 2 percent positions. But again, maybe the thing to do now would be long-only instead."The Indian markets have corrected sharply since October, with the benchmark BSE Sensex (.BSESN) and NSE Nifty 50 (.NSEI) down more than 14% from an all-time high hit in September. Fear…

Global trade tensions and a potential value-added tax hike in South Africa could derail two years of slowing inflation, the country's central bank governor said on Tuesday.Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of G20 finance officials in Cape Town, Lesetja Kganyago said uncertain trade conditions and retaliatory tariffs could impact South Africa by tightening global financing conditions and affecting its exports.South Africa's G20 presidency has been overshadowed by the prospect of a global trade war since U.S. President Donald Trump's return to the White House last month.Japan's finance minister has pulled out of this week's G20 finance meeting to focus on trying to pass next year's budget, while U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is staying away amid a spat between Trump's administration and South Africa."One thing looming large is elevated uncertainty by some of the trade measures taken by major economies," Kganyago told Reuters in an interview."A combination of those could feed into the domestic price formation process and create a challenge for us where you have both a slowing global economy and a rising inflation profile at the same time," he added.Annual consumer inflation rose for the second month in a row in December, reaching 3.0% in (ZACPIY=ECI),…

Brazil's IPCA-15 consumer price index posted in February its largest monthly rise in almost three years, official data showed on Tuesday, driving 12-month inflation to its highest since late 2023 as the central bank continues to tighten monetary policy.Prices were up 1.23% in the month to mid-February, statistics agency IBGE said, up from 0.11% in the previous month.Although landing below the 1.33% expected by economists in a Reuters poll, it was the highest overall reading since April 2022 and the highest for February since 2016, underscoring the challenges faced by the central bank to tame soaring prices.Annual inflation hit 4.96%, up from 4.50% in January, the highest since October 2023. Market expectations were for it to reach 5.08%.Brazil's central bank targets inflation at 3%, plus or minus 1.5 percentage points, and has been hiking interest rates aggressively as policymakers vow to bring consumer prices back to the official goal.The bank seems all but certain to deliver a third consecutive 100-basis-point increase to the benchmark Selic rate in March, taking it to a more than eight-year high of 14.25% in its bid to curb inflation."February's IPCA-15 data are unlikely to prompt Copom to deviate from its guidance for at least one…