• The U.K. economy unexpectedly stagnated in October, marking three straight months without growth for the first time since 2009.
• Gross domestic product was unchanged following two consecutive months of decline, the Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday. Economists had forecast a 0.1% expansion. GDP rose just 0.7% from a year earlier, the smallest increase since June 2012.
• The services sector grew from September, as did manufacturing as stock building resumed ahead of the now-postponed Oct. 31 Brexit deadline. However, this was offset by lower oil production and the steepest drop in construction output since the beginning of 2018.
• Output flat-lined in the latest three months and Britain is on course for growth of little more than 1% this year, its worst performance since the financial crisis a decade ago. PMI surveys for November showed the economy contracting across the board.

(Source: Bloomberg)

• Oil prices slipped for a second straight session on Tuesday as a slowing global demand outlook outweighed OPEC’s deal with associated producers last week to deepen output cuts in 2020.
• Brent crude was down 17 cents, or 0.3%, at $64.08 per barrel by 0954 GMT while West Texas Intermediate oil was down 21 cents, or 0.4%, lower at $58.81 a barrel.
• The benchmarks fell by 0.2% and 0.3% respectively on Monday.
• Last week, OPEC and associated producers like Russia agreed to deepen output cuts from 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) to 1.7 million bpd to support prices.
• However, crude prices have fallen this week as a Dec. 15 deadline for the next round of U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports loomed over markets.

(Source: Reuters)

• Net profit at Jamaica Broilers inched up 3.5% for the six-month period ended October 31, 2019, to $666.72Mn (EPS: 66.67¢) from $644.26Mn (EPS: 61.21¢) in the corresponding period of 2018.
• Contributing to the modest increase in the bottom line was an increase in revenues ($551.47Mn or 2.1%) and a $150.76Mn rise in exchange differences due to the translation of foreign operation.
• The stock has risen 30.2% since the start of the calendar year. Jamaica Broilers Group closed Thursday’s trading session at $37.91 and currently trades at a P/E of 15.4x earnings which is below the Main Market Distribution and Manufacturing Sector average of 21.3x.

(Source: Jamaica Broilers Financials) 

• Sagicor Financial Corporation Limited ("SFCL") and Alignvest Acquisition II Corporation ("AQY") announced that they have completed the business combination transaction involving the transfer of all issued and outstanding shares in SFCL to AQY in exchange for shareholders of SFCL receiving cash or shares of AQY.  The resulting entity is named Sagicor Financial Company Ltd. ("Sagicor").
• As a result of the closing, Sagicor will retain over US$440 million of net cash and will be exceptionally well-capitalized.  Sagicor expects to utilize the cash for growth and for capital optimization purposes.
• Sagicor's registered office will continue in Bermuda and the head office will remain in Barbados.

(Source: Yahoo Finance)

• The Cen­tral Bank of Trinidad and To­ba­go (CBTT), in its lat­est Mon­e­tary Policy Re­port, has ex­plained that T&T’s econ­o­my can be fur­ther stim­u­lat­ed if there is an end to the in­ter­rup­tion of nat­ur­al gas pro­duc­tion.
• The bank ex­pressed that the Min­istry of En­er­gy ex­pects a rise in nat­ur­al gas pro­duc­tion to around 3.8Bn stan­dard cu­bic feet per day (bcf/d), which would aid the re­ju­ve­na­tion of down­stream re­fin­ing and strength­en the pro­duc­tion of petro­chem­i­cals.
• The CBTT con­tend­ed that LNG pro­duc­tion, which was in­ter­rupt­ed in June by main­te­nance ac­tiv­i­ty and pow­er out­ages at the At­lantic LNG fa­cil­i­ty, is like­ly to nor­malise in the sec­ond half of 2019.
• The CBTT said that the re­sponse of pri­vate in­vest­ment will be key to de­ter­min­ing how fast the non-en­er­gy econ­o­my re­cov­ers. Ac­cord­ing to pre­lim­i­nary es­ti­mates by the CBTT for the first half of 2019, ac­tiv­i­ty re­mained mod­er­ate in the non-en­er­gy sec­tor while ac­tiv­i­ty de­clined in sev­er­al cru­cial sub-sec­tors such as man­u­fac­tur­ing and con­struc­tion.

(Source: T&T Guardian)

• France has added The Bahamas, Anguilla, Virgin Islands, and Seychelles to its blacklist of tax havens for lack of cooperation, according to Public Accounts Minister Gerald Darmanin.
• The Bahamas Attorney General Bethel told the local press that a final decision has not been made by the French government.  "As I understand it France is advising that they may blacklist us. I'm not aware that it has gone beyond foreshadowing by their Minister."
• Earlier this year The Bahamas avoided being blacklisted as a tax haven by the European Union (EU).

(Source: International Investment)

• China is in the process of waiving retaliatory tariffs on imports of U.S. pork and soy by domestic companies, a procedural step that may also signal a broader trade agreement with the U.S. is drawing closer.
• China’s finance ministry said it has started to process the applications after the firms purchased a certain amount of U.S. goods based on its needs. The ministry is working to waive the tariffs resulting from the trade war on those goods, it said in a statement on Friday.
• American and Chinese negotiators have signaled that they may be drawing closer to agreeing on phase one of a broader accord that would resolve the trade dispute. However, President Donald Trump has said that he wouldn’t mind if it takes until after the 2020 U.S. election and that a threatened Dec. 15 tariff increase will proceed if the talks fail to yield a deal he likes

(Source Bloomberg)

• The bar for cutting U.S. interest rates may get a little lower next year when a new crop of central bankers rotate into voting spots on the Federal Reserve's policy-setting panel as part of its annual membership reshuffle.
• The four regional Fed bank presidents gaining a vote on interest rates starting in January are slightly less hawkish overall than the four they replace, a review of public comments and voting records shows.
• Fed Chair Jerome Powell has said that after three rate cuts this year, only a "material" change to the economic outlook could trigger a further reduction. When they meet next week for the last time this year, policymakers are expected to leave rates in the current range of 1.5% to 1.75%.

(Source Reuters)

• Scotia Group reported a net income of $13.19Bn (EPS: $4.24) for the year ended October 31, 2019, a 3.3% increase over the outturn in its 2018 financial year.
• Net gains on FX activities (+$2.95Bn or 73.8%), insurance revenue, up $370.37Mn (or 12.6%) and net gains on financial assets (+ 27.2%) were the main drivers of the company’s performance. 
• The stock has risen by 1.2% since the start of the calendar year and closed Wednesday’s trading session at $55.48. It currently trades at a P/E of 13.1x earnings, which is below the Main Market Financial Sector average of 18.7x.

(Source: Scotia Group Jamaica Financials)

• Tourism Minister, the Hon. Edmund Bartlett, says that with LATAM Airlines now joining American Airlines with direct flights out of major international gateways, Jamaica has become the most connected destination in the English-speaking Caribbean.
• Addressing tourism stakeholders and business interests at a welcome reception for crew members of the LATAM Airlines flight from Lima, Peru, at the Sangster International Airport on December 2, the Minister said Jamaica’s tourism exploits have never been better, adding that “this is just the tip of the iceberg”.
• “We recently celebrated the return of direct flights with American Airlines out of JFK Airport in New York. Today we welcome LATAM Airlines flight with 174 passengers from Lima, Peru. For now, the deal is that they will be doing three flights per week with more to be added in the not too distant future,” Mr. Bartlett informed.
• The Minister further noted that the Lima hub is one of the biggest in South America and will make Jamaica the most connected of any Caribbean nation from that region.

(Source: JIS)