World Trade Organization Director General Roberto Azevedo expressed concern at U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan for tariffs on steel and aluminum on Friday, an extremely rare intervention into a WTO member’s trade policy.
“The WTO is clearly concerned at the announcement of U.S. plans for tariffs on steel and aluminum. The potential for escalation is real, as we have seen from the initial responses of others,” he said in a brief statement issued by the WTO.
“A trade war is in no one’s interests. The WTO will be watching the situation very closely.”
And Trump’s boasting that he’s got a bigger button than the rest of the world put together:
U.S. President Donald Trump struck a defiant tone on Friday, saying trade wars were good and easy to win, after his plan to put tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum triggered global criticism and a slide in world stock markets.
The European Union raised the possibility of taking countermeasures, France said the duties were unacceptable and China urged Trump to show restraint. Canada, the biggest supplier of steel and aluminum to the United States, said it would retaliate if hit by U.S. tariffs.
Trump said on Thursday that tariffs of 25 per cent on steel imports and 10 per cent on aluminum products were designed to safeguard American jobs in the face of cheaper foreign products and would be formally announced next week.
“When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win,” Trump tweeted on Friday.
“Example, when we are down $100-billion with a certain country and they get cute, don’t trade anymore-we win big. It’s easy!” he wrote.
Sure. Messrs. Smoot and Hawley won their war back in the thirties.
So, despite more pointed comments about US inflation…:
Speaking of the Fed, it was behind the S&P 500’s travails Tuesday and Wednesday, a 2.4 percent retreat that before last month would’ve qualified as the worst selloff in a year. Stocks slid as Powell, who has vowed continuity with predecessor Janet Yellen’s pace of interest-rate hikes, hinted the central bank may be faster on the draw than anticipated.
“Powell surprised people by being a bit more frank than folks expected,” said Max Gokhman, head of asset allocation for Pacific Life Fund Advisors. “That doesn’t necessarily work as a Fed chair, especially when we’re latching onto every single word that the Fed officials say.”
The new chairman been at the helm for just a month, obviously too little time to say if the markets like him. What is clear is that a combination of rate angst and Trump’s saber rattling has erased half the S&P 500’s 7.7 percent rebound from a Feb. 8 low.
For the week, the S&P 500 ended down 2 percent, almost twice as much as any decline registered in 2017. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 3.1 percent, while the Nasdaq 100 index lost 1.22 percent. Small-caps lost 1 percent.
… Canadian bond yields were down today, with the five-year closing at 2.00%.
Of course, poor GDP numbers probably had something to do with that:
Canada’s economy decelerated more than expected in the second half of last year, amid signs indebted households have begun slowing down spending.
The economy grew at an annualized pace of 1.7 percent in the fourth quarter, Statistics Canada reported Friday, versus economist expectations for 2 percent growth. Third-quarter gross domestic product growth was also revised down.
After leading the Group of Seven in growth last year, Friday’s numbers show a Canadian economy that has lost momentum, seemingly hampered by longstanding productivity issues and the growing potential of a hangover from the real estate boom. The U.S. economy recorded growth rates of 3.2 percent in the third quarter and 2.5 percent in the last three months of 2017.
…
What may be worse is that fourth-quarter GDP figures were exaggerated by temporary factors in housing. Spending on residential structures surged in the last three months of 2017 to an annualized 13.4 percent, the strongest quarterly increase since 2012. The gain was led by stronger-than-expected new home construction, and as buyers rushed to get ahead of tighter mortgage qualification rules that came into effect Jan. 1.The increase in residential spending was responsible for 1 percentage point of the 1.7 percent growth rate, Statistics Canada said.
| HIMIPref™ Preferred Indices These values reflect the December 2008 revision of the HIMIPref™ Indices Values are provisional and are finalized monthly |
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| Index | Mean Current Yield (at bid) |
Median YTW |
Median Average Trading Value |
Median Mod Dur (YTW) |
Issues | Day’s Perf. | Index Value |
| Ratchet | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0000 % | 3,055.4 |
| FixedFloater | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0000 % | 5,606.5 |
| Floater | 3.25 % | 3.45 % | 109,966 | 18.58 | 4 | 0.0000 % | 3,231.1 |
| OpRet | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.0236 % | 3,155.0 |
| SplitShare | 4.71 % | 4.20 % | 67,313 | 3.32 | 5 | -0.0236 % | 3,767.7 |
| Interest-Bearing | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.0236 % | 2,939.7 |
| Perpetual-Premium | 5.46 % | 5.00 % | 78,249 | 14.41 | 20 | -0.0080 % | 2,820.3 |
| Perpetual-Discount | 5.44 % | 5.54 % | 92,438 | 14.55 | 14 | -0.3463 % | 2,921.7 |
| FixedReset | 4.25 % | 4.60 % | 167,875 | 5.90 | 102 | 0.0895 % | 2,519.3 |
| Deemed-Retractible | 5.20 % | 5.72 % | 92,821 | 5.77 | 28 | -0.0335 % | 2,899.1 |
| FloatingReset | 2.95 % | 2.91 % | 35,033 | 3.70 | 10 | -0.0913 % | 2,766.5 |
| Performance Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Change | Notes |
| TRP.PR.B | FixedReset | -1.23 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2048-03-02 Maturity Price : 16.89 Evaluated at bid price : 16.89 Bid-YTW : 4.70 % |
| TRP.PR.C | FixedReset | -1.11 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2048-03-02 Maturity Price : 17.85 Evaluated at bid price : 17.85 Bid-YTW : 4.76 % |
| PWF.PR.S | Perpetual-Discount | -1.09 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2048-03-02 Maturity Price : 21.57 Evaluated at bid price : 21.85 Bid-YTW : 5.54 % |
| HSE.PR.A | FixedReset | -1.05 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2048-03-02 Maturity Price : 17.83 Evaluated at bid price : 17.83 Bid-YTW : 5.01 % |
| TD.PF.E | FixedReset | 1.19 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2020-10-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 24.70 Bid-YTW : 4.32 % |
| W.PR.J | Perpetual-Premium | 1.23 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2048-03-02 Maturity Price : 24.29 Evaluated at bid price : 24.60 Bid-YTW : 5.77 % |
| IFC.PR.C | FixedReset | 1.27 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2025-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 23.95 Bid-YTW : 4.81 % |
| Volume Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Shares Traded |
Notes |
| GWO.PR.G | Deemed-Retractible | 167,612 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2025-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 24.00 Bid-YTW : 5.87 % |
| MFC.PR.Q | FixedReset | 152,800 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2025-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 24.90 Bid-YTW : 4.79 % |
| BNS.PR.Y | FixedReset | 147,402 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 23.25 Bid-YTW : 4.36 % |
| NA.PR.E | FixedReset | 61,800 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2048-03-02 Maturity Price : 23.01 Evaluated at bid price : 24.60 Bid-YTW : 4.64 % |
| TD.PF.A | FixedReset | 53,298 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2048-03-02 Maturity Price : 23.11 Evaluated at bid price : 23.51 Bid-YTW : 4.53 % |
| BAM.PF.J | FixedReset | 49,360 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2022-12-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.25 Bid-YTW : 4.73 % |
| There were 43 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares. | |||
| Wide Spread Highlights | ||
| Issue | Index | Quote Data and Yield Notes |
| RY.PR.M | FixedReset | Quote: 24.10 – 24.58 Spot Rate : 0.4800 Average : 0.2992 YTW SCENARIO |
| HSE.PR.A | FixedReset | Quote: 17.83 – 18.36 Spot Rate : 0.5300 Average : 0.3776 YTW SCENARIO |
| BAM.PR.R | FixedReset | Quote: 21.08 – 21.40 Spot Rate : 0.3200 Average : 0.1920 YTW SCENARIO |
| MFC.PR.H | FixedReset | Quote: 24.60 – 24.94 Spot Rate : 0.3400 Average : 0.2310 YTW SCENARIO |
| TRP.PR.K | FixedReset | Quote: 25.56 – 25.86 Spot Rate : 0.3000 Average : 0.1950 YTW SCENARIO |
| MFC.PR.G | FixedReset | Quote: 24.33 – 24.68 Spot Rate : 0.3500 Average : 0.2474 YTW SCENARIO |