The Daily

August 14th, 2017   Daily Market Commentary     Canadian Headlines President Donald Trump has set the terms for revamping the North American Free Trade Agreement: Cut the U.S. trade deficit or he’ll walk away. That could entail convincing Mexico and Canada to commit to buy more American products. The White House will have its work cut [...]

August 11th, 2017   Daily Market Commentary     Canadian Headlines As copper producers from Freeport-McMoRan Inc. to BHP Billiton Ltd. ponder what to do with the windfall from surging prices, First Quantum Minerals Ltd. has no such dilemma. Unlike most of its peers, First Quantum’s copper sales are fully hedged -- at an expected average price [...]

August 10th, 2017   Daily Market Commentary     Canadian Headlines Canadian stocks fell as investors continued to reel from growing tension between the U.S. and North Korea and energy stocks took a hit from an unexpected increase in gasoline supplies. The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 39 points or 0.3 percent to 15,217.33. Health-care stocks tumbled 5.1 percent. [...]

August 9th, 2017   Daily Market Commentary     Canadian Headlines The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s proposal to strip cigarettes of their addictive properties has opened a new front in the international campaign to reduce smoking, with health authorities in at least four other countries studying the idea. After FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb suggested mandating drastic cuts in [...]

August 8th, 2017   Daily Market Commentary     Canadian Headlines Canada’s biggest builder is keeping its focus at home even as U.S. President Donald Trump pledges to ramp up infrastructure spending next door. SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. is bidding on projects such as light-rail lines in Ottawa and Toronto and a C$6 billion ($4.7 billion) rapid-transit [...]

August 4th, 2017   Daily Market Commentary     Canadian Headlines Allianz SE and Canada Pension Plan Investment Boardhave agreed to buy a 20 percent stake in Spain’s Gas Natural SDG SA’s gas distribution business for 1.5 billion euros ($1.8 billion). Allianz, through its subsidiary Allianz Capital Partners, will commit 600 million euros in equity toward the investment, while Toronto-based [...]

August 3rd, 2017   Daily Market Commentary     Canadian Headlines Home prices in Canada’s largest city posted their biggest monthly drop in at least 17 years in July and sales plunged as government efforts to cool the market and the near-collapse of a mortgage lender made buyers leery. The benchmark property price, which tracks a typical [...]

August 2nd, 2017   Daily Market Commentary     Canadian Headlines Profit margins slipped at CGI Group Inc. as the Canadian technology-services provider hired more people to develop products for clients that want more operations online. The margins declined a half percentage point from a year earlier to 9.8 percent, the Montreal-based company said in a statement Wednesday. Earnings, [...]

August 1st, 2017   Daily Market Commentary     Canadian Headlines Canadian stocks rallied as financials broke a three-day slump, offsetting losses in health care and tech companies. The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 0.1 percent to 15,143.87. Financial stocks added 0.4 percent as Manulife Financial Corp. increased 0.9 percent and the Canadian Imperial Bank of [...]

July 31st, 2017   Daily Market Commentary     Canadian Headlines Canada’s economy is booming, and that’s good news for Justin Trudeau. The question is whether it can last until the next election. Growth in May beat all forecasts, a 4.6 percent expansion on a yearly basis that was the fastest in 17 years. Canada is forecast [...]