Market Overview
• Stress around the outlook for the US economy is starting to weigh on risk markets with a bout of “risk off” overnight as the Nasdaq falls ahead of US CPI.
• US Jobs data came in cold Friday with Non-Farm Payroll printing with 151k newly employed people in February, lower than the 159k we expected. The unemployment rate rose from 4.0% to 4.1% and looks to be gradually trending higher.
• Canadian Unemployment came in bang on expectations of 6.6%.
• Chinese CPI y/y February came in at -0.7% compared to -0.4% markets were predicting falling below zero for the first time in 13 months showing deflationary times.
• A US Government shutdown is possible if the “house” fails to pass a temporary funding bill. President Trump remains optimistic funding approval will be granted out to the fiscal year of 30 September.
• China have bought in new tariffs on Canada for Oilcakes, Peas, aquatic products, and pork. These take effect on March 20th.
• The Euro (EUR) remains the best performing currency in March while the US Dollar (USD) and CAD have been the worst performing across the main board.