By James Langton
(November 12 – 09:00 EST) – U.S. retail sales data came in higher than expected, up 0.5% excluding auto sales, above expectations of 0.2%. Nevertheless futures rallied, apparently on evidence of declining unit labour costs. This was the last major data release ahead of the rate announcement from the U.S. Federal Reserve Board next week. This news pushed the S&P markets up this morning.
There were no major data releases out of Statistics Canada today. Although things appear uniformly positive in the U.S., it should be noted that gold is declining strongly today. That will likely hit the TSE. Gold miner Placer Dome is announcing that it will buy copper, picking up the rest of Chile’s Zaldivar Copper Mine for $251 million.
In Europe, markets have been choppy despite continued takeover talk in the telecom business. London’s FTSE 100 is down six points. The German DAX is up 16 points, while the French CAC 40 has added 26 points.
The euro was knocked back against the dollar, after it was announced that German retail sales fell 4.5% in September, an unexpected drop. This news has many traders feeling the European Central Bank will stand pat on its rates in the short term at least.
In Asia, stocks were mixed too. Japan saw light trading to the downside, sliding off 69 points. In Hong Kong the return of some liquidity to the market pulled the Hang Seng index up 84 points.
In other business news, Biovail has approved a 2-for-1 stock split.