Canadian dollar dips as hedge fund default crimps risk appetite - Reuters News
Canadian dollar dips as hedge fund default crimps risk appetite - Reuters News
- Canadian dollar weakens 0.1% against the greenback
- Loonie trades in a range of 1.2571 to 1.2626
- Price of U.S. oil rises 0.3%
- Canadian bond yields ease across a flatter curve
TORONTO, March 29 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar edged lower against its U.S. counterpart on Monday as the default of a U.S. hedge fund weighed on investor sentiment, offsetting higher oil prices.
U.S. stock index futures dropped after Wall Street's surge in the prior session as major lenders came under pressure on concerns over possible spillover effects after the hedge fund default. (Full Story)
Oil, one of Canada's major exports, rose on expectations the OPEC+ group of leading producers will keep output unchanged in May, and worries that operations in the Suez Canal might take weeks to return to normal even though a ship blocking it has been partly refloated. (Full Story)
U.S. crude CLc1 prices were up 0.3% at $61.12 a barrel, while the Canadian dollar CAD= was trading 0.1% lower at 1.2592 to the greenback, or 79.42 U.S. cents.
The currency traded in a range of 1.2571 to 1.2626. Last Thursday, it touched a two-week low at 1.2628.
Speculators have reduced their bullish bets on the Canadian dollar to the lowest this year, data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed. As of March 23, net long positions had decreased to 5,103 contracts from 10,263 in the prior week. (Full Story)
COVID-19 variant cases are increasing rapidly in several parts of Canada and longer-range forecasts show that stronger public health restrictions will be required to counter the spread of the disease, health officials said on Friday. (Full Story)
Canada's GDP data for January, due on Wednesday, could guide expectations on the Bank of Canada policy outlook. Strategists say the central bank could reduce its bond purchases in April. (Full Story)
Canadian government bond yields were lower across a flatter curve in tandem with U.S. Treasuries on Monday. The 10-year CA10YT=RR fell 3.3 basis points to 1.468%, having pulled back from a 14-month high earlier this month at 1.677%.
Oil falls as traffic in Suez Canal resumes - Reuters News
By Bozorgmehr Sharafedin
LONDON, March 29 (Reuters) - Oil fell on Monday as a container ship that has blocked the Suez Canal for nearly a week was refloated and traffic in the waterway resumed, while fuel demand in Europe remained weak amid renewed lockdowns to curb a new wave of coronavirus infections.
Brent oil LCOc1 fell 63 cents, or 1%, to $63.94 a barrel by 1337 GMT. U.S. crude CLc1 was down 63 cents, or 1%, at $60.34 a barrel.
At the Suez Canal, a Reuters witness saw the giant container ship Ever Given moving after being refloated by rescue workers and salvage teams, and a shipping tracker and Egyptian TV showed it positioned in the centre of the waterway. (Full Story)
However, disruptions in the global shipping industry could take weeks and possibly months to clear, top container shipping lines said. (Full Story)
"Now that the Suez mini crisis is being resolved the oil market is left to its own fundamental devices again," said PVM Oil Associates analyst Tamas Varga.
"Attention will shift back to the stuttering inoculation programmes (against COVID-19), the seemingly unstoppable rise in infection rates in several parts of the world, and the upcoming OPEC meeting on April 1," he added.
Prices have swung wildly in the last few days as traders and investors tried to weigh the impact of the blocked key trade transit point and the broader effect of lockdowns to stop coronavirus infections.
Market volatility is set to continue, said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA.
Some European countries struggling with increased COVID-19 infections have tightened lockdown restrictions, and fuel demand across the continent remains weak, though England's stay-at-home lockdown order ended on Monday. (Full Story) (Full Story) (Full Story)
However, the market is getting some support from expectations that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies including Russia will maintain lower output levels when they meet this week. (Full Story)
Russia would support broadly stable oil output by OPEC+ in May, while seeking a relatively small output hike for itself to meet rising seasonal demand, a source familiar with Russia's thinking said on Monday. (Full Story)
Russian oil and gas condensate output increased to 10.22 million barrels per day (bpd) in the period March 1-28 from 10.1 on average in February, two industry sources familiar with the data told Reuters on Monday, broadly in line with Moscow's plans.
UK consumers cut their borrowing at record annual pace in Feb - BoE - Reuters News
- UK consumer lending falls at fastest rate since records began
- Built-up household savings point to fuel for economic recovery
- Mortgage approvals drop before new budget measures announced
- Household finances survey shows strain but improvement
By Andy Bruce and William Schomberg
LONDON, March 29 (Reuters) - British consumers reined in their borrowing at the fastest annual pace on record in February, according to Bank of England data that could presage a spending-fuelled bounce-back for the economy as COVID restrictions are eased.
Consumer borrowing dropped 9.9% year-on-year compared with February last year - just before the pandemic struck the West - the biggest fall since the series began in 1998, the BoE said.
In February alone, borrowing was down for a seventh consecutive month although the pace of the fall eased.
The data came as England's stay-at-home lockdown order ended on Monday with people allowed to meet up outside in groups of six for the first time in nearly three months - the first in a series of steps to reopen the country and the economy.
While repayments of consumer credit have fallen sharply during the pandemic, new borrowing has fallen by much more.
Howard Archer, an economist with forecasters EY ITEM Club, said the trend would support consumers' ability to spend when non-essential shops, bars and restaurants and holiday destinations reopen.
"This fuels hope that consumers can play a leading role in the economy's hoped-for decent recovery from the second quarter as restrictions on activity are progressively eased," he said.
BOUNCE-BACK?
Gauges of consumer morale have hit their highest levels since the pandemic upended life in Britain a year ago.
But it remains to be seen how much of the savings glut -built up mostly by higher-income households - will be spent.
A survey published on Monday by savings firm Scottish Widows and data researcher IHS Markit suggested the big picture for households in the first three months of 2021 remained one of squeezed savings, lower income from employment and less cash available to spend despite the trend of paying down debts.
But the survey showed an improvement in February and March as households took encouragement from the plan to ease the lockdown restrictions.
The BoE data showed unsecured lending to consumers fell by 1.25 billion pounds in net terms in February, in line with the median forecast in a Reuters poll of economists, having dropped by 2.65 billion pounds in January.
The BoE expects a bounce-back in the economy as restrictions are gradually lifted and consumers spend savings that they have accumulated while spending much of the last year stuck at home.
It said last month that growth could reach 5% in 2021 after last year's 10% slump, its sharpest contraction in more than three centuries.
Mortgage approvals also fell in February, before finance minister Rishi Sunak announced new measures in his March budget to bolster the housing market.
The number of mortgages approved by lenders fell to 87,669 last month, below all forecasts in the Reuters poll that had pointed to 95,000 approvals, compared with 97,350 in January.
