NCP Northland Adds Four Professionals

NCP Northland Capital Partners bolstered its sales, trading and research operations with four recent hires, a spokesman for the Toronto-based dealer confirmed Friday.

Joining NCP Northland's institutional sales desk are Lee Bowles and Ashantie Burke. Bowles was with PI Financial, while Burke was most recently at RBC Capital Markets.

In addition, NCP has added John Shingler to oversee direct market access trading. He was last at Desjardins Capital Markets.

Finally, former CIBC World Markets energy analyst, Robert Plexman, is also joining the firm.

The NCP representative declined to elaborate on the new hires.

Short USD/JPY Not Attractive Here - RBC Capital Markets

Short USD/JPY positioning is not attractive here, says RBC Capital Markets head of G10 FX strategy Adam Cole. The pace of Thursday's plunge through 80.00 seems to have rattled the authorities, with a step-up in rhetoric. Cole says bearish as he is on USD/JPY long term, the risk of stronger verbal, or even physical intervention, is high. USD/JPY is now at 79.31, from its fresh overnight three month low of 79.13.

Canadian Bonds Climb For 2nd Day As Risk Sentiment Fades Away

Canadian bonds were rallied for the second-consecutive session Thursday, with Greece's financial situation bringing safe haven flows into a fixed-income market that was also boosted by a weaker-than-expected read of U.S. business conditions.

Yields for Canada's two-year bond were at 1.238% late Thursday. The 10-year bond was yielding 1.883%, from 1.924% late Wednesday, according to bond trading site CanDeal.

Yields for the 30-year bond were at 2.424% Thursday, from 2.453% late Wednesday. The spread between Canada's 30-year bonds and its U.S. counterpart widened to about -37, its largest level since December 2011. The spread, expected to widen further, is largely due to the "fiscal superiority" of Canada's economy compared to the U.S., said Ian Pollick, senior fixed income strategist at RBC Capital Markets in Toronto.

Bond yields move inversely to bond prices.

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Canadian bonds gained and continued to move up following the release of the Philadelphia Fed's index of general business activity within the factory sector, which unexpectedly fell to -5.8 in May from 8.5 in April. Economists expected the index to rise to 9.3.

The gauge "spooked the market a little," but the gains in fixed-income were primarily driven by positioning where buyers easily outnumbered sellers, said Pollick.

Most European markets are closed today due to the Ascension Day holiday, but concerns over Greece's financial situation and the growing possibility it may have to vacate the 17-member euro-zone loomed over fixed-income and equity markets

Earlier on Thursday, fixed-income markets took in stride several economic indicators that saw U.S. weekly jobless claims at 370,000, roughly unchanged than the previous week. Canada's wholesale trade figures for March rose slightly better-than-expect to 0.4%.

Canada's consumer price index for April will be released on Friday, but Pollick said any action following the reading will be felt along the curve's margins.

"The only thing that matters in Canada is GDP growth and employment," Pollick said.

Economists surveyed by Royal Bank of Canada expect a core CPI monthly rate of 0.2% in April, and an annual rate 1.9%.