The chase by Marty Cej:
European stocks are lower, industrial commodities are sliding and U.S. index futures are pointing to early losses after the weekend?s EU summit left investors and lawmakers skeptical that the long-term steps agreed upon will solve the debt crisis in the near term. European leaders ended the summit with a pact to draft a new treaty that enforces tighter fiscal integration but details won?t be settled until at least March. In the meantime, the EU leaders have agreed to lend up to 200 billion euros to the IMF to help it support the weakest members of the euro-zone, and to accelerate the permanent rescue fund ? the European Stability Mechanism ? by a full year to mid-2012. Between now and March, the markets will look to the European Central Bank for support and wonder whether Standard & Poor?s will cut its ratings on European countries before Christmas. One definitive result of the meeting was British Prime Minister David Cameron?s political alienation from the broader European Union. By standing up for Britain?s financial services industry and opposing a transaction tax, Cameron has thrown his political future into some doubt and potentially removed White Hall from the next phase of decisions in Brussels.
The U.S. Federal Reserve?s policy-setting Open Market Committee reveals its latest take on the U.S. economy tomorrow at 2:15 pm Eastern. The FOMC is not expected to invoke any new measures to stimulate growth so the market?s attention will be on how the Fed sees the recent spate of stronger-than-expected economic data, including a big drop in the unemployment rate and remarkably resilient consumer confidence numbers. Today, Headline sits down at 1:00 pm with Alice Rivlin, a member of the President?s Debt Commission and a former Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve.
It should be noted that stronger-than-anticipated retail sales last month have many analysts and economists arguing that U.S. shoppers are now already tapped out. A survey by UBS and America?s Research Group (ARG) this morning says that with ?
two weeks to go before Christmas, holiday shoppers buffeted by the weak U.S. economy have already spent all they can afford to on gifts? ?More Americans are living week to week,? said ARG Chairman Britt Beemer, who noted that the new findings are the bleakest in the survey's 27-year history. "They simply have no money."
And what about Canadian monetary policy? Rather than speculate we?ll simply ask Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney, who joins us Tuesday on Headline. We?ll talk about the outlook for the Canadian economy, Canadian interest rates, household debt, global financial regulation and the skiing near Basel, Switzerland, maybe.
This is one interview you will not want to miss.
Sun Life Financial said this morning that it is cutting 800 jobs, closing two lines of business in the U.S. and will take a small charge as it intensifies its ?focus on reducing volatility and improving the return on shareholders' equity by shifting capital to businesses with superior growth, risk and return characteristics.? Paul Bagnell is listening in on the conference call for more details and Peter Routledge, director of research, financial services, National Bank Financial, will join us with his take on Sun Life and its competitors at 10:30.
Suncor is pulling out of Syria and EnCana is fighting back against claims from the Environmental Protection Agency that its drilling activities in Wyoming are poisoning the water.
Stock movers today could include Air Canada, GMP, Ivanhoe Energy and Yellow Media, all of which were booted from the S&P/TSX Composite.