EM LATAM CREDIT: Republic of Peru (Baa1/BBB-/BBB): Aramco Buys Fuel Stations
Mar-21 15:16
“Aramco, the world's largest oil company, acquires Primax shares.” – Gestion
Neutral for spreads
• Grupo Romero, a privately owned Peru based conglomerate with operations in 17 countries, is selling their Primax fuel distribution subsidiary to Saudi Aramco for USD3.5bn.
• Primax operates in Peru, Colombia and Ecuador.
• Aramco initially entered the Latin American fuel distribution business after completing the acquisition of Chilean fuel and lubricants retailer Esmax in March 2024.
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US: Large SFR outright call trades for more
Feb-19 15:14
The Outright call is building up:
- SFRU5 96.25c, bought for 9.5 in 40k total (Screen and Pit).
CROSS ASSET: USDJPY tests Yesterday's low
Feb-19 15:08
- A quick extension higher in Tnotes helping push the USDJPY to session low, Yesterday's low in the latter is at 151.24, ahead the immediate support of 150.93.
- It is still a fairly limited move in Treasuries, a 5k buyer cumulative went through, and the price action doesn't seem to be Spread led, as the calendar spreads sees selling interest.
- Resistance in TYH5 moves down to 109.01.
US DATA: Redbook Data Suggests January's Retail Sales Weakness Was Temporary
Feb-19 15:08
The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose by 6.3% in the week ending Feb 15, accelerating from 5.3% prior and bringing February month-to-date sales up 5.8% Y/Y.
- While the latter was below retailers' target of a 6.3% Y/Y rise, this is a significantly more buoyant appraisal of recent consumer activity compared with the January Census Bureau Retail Sales which saw a surprising 0.9% M/M drop (vs -0.2% consensus).
- Though as we pointed out at the time, there may have been some seasonal adjustment issues among other idiosyncratic factors at play in that sequential Retail Sales drop, with sales rising 4.2% on a Y/Y basis in January (not far off the 4.5% Y/Y increase posted by the Redbook index in January - and this has subsequently rebounded).
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- A reminder of the Johnson Redbook Index's methodology: "a sales-weighted of year-over-year same-store sales growth in a sample of large US general merchandise retailers representing about 9,000 stores. Same-store sales are sales in stores continuously open for 12 months or longer. By dollar value, the Index represents over 80% of the equivalent 'official' retail sales series collected and published by the US Department of Commerce."
