In her Senate confirmation hearing yesterday, the future Fed Chair clearly stated that she would not make any major changes to the measures implemented by the country’s central bank. She carefully defended the current measures used by the Fed to support U.S. economic growth, and set out the conditions that would allow the Fed to normalize its key rate and begin tapering quantitative easing measures. The S&P500 gained close to half a percent over the day on the status quo approach, while the loonie reached its highest level since August.
Continuing south of the border, NY Empire State Manufacturing Index figures for November will be released this morning. Markets anticipate a reading of 5.00, compared to 1.52 for October. At 9:15, eyes will turn to Industrial Production figures for last month. Markets expect growth in production of 0.2%, down from the 0.6% seen in September and a Capacity Utilization Ratio of 78.3%, unchanged from the previous month. In essence, although job creation was encouraging last month, the momentum does not yet appear to have spilled over into the country’s industrial base. Have a great weekend! Xavier Villemaire
Range of the day: 1.0450-1.0550