North American markets are broadly stronger this morning, led by the banks here in Canada. Overnight, India announced significant increases in manufacturing and exports which caused emerging markets shares to rise, while Greek debt is rebounding on speculation that the country will announce additional deficit cuts that may open the door for an aid package by the European Union. The Bank of Canada left interest rates unchanged this morning, but signalled that inflation and economic output have been higher than expected, raising expectations for a rate hike early in the second half of the year. The Australian central bank hiked rates by another quarter point overnight. Bank of Montreal followed in the footsteps of National and CIBC with strong first quarter numbers, beating average estimates by 10%. The TSX is up 88 pts. The Dow is up 41 pts.
The Canadian dollar climbed three-quarters of a penny to US$.9678 on the “less-dovish” comments by the Bank of Canada. Bond yields climbed to 2.55% for the 5-year Canada and 3.41% for the ten. Oil is up $1.25 to US$79.95/barrel. Gold is up $16 to US$1134.40/oz.
