Aurora Cannabis is getting punished by investors for failing to live up to forecasts that are barely a month old. Total fourth-quarter revenue fell just short of the range presented on Aug. 6. And there’s some nuanced tweaks to Aurora’s stated path to adjusted profitability. Beyond the numbers, Aurora called out “challenges” in the recreational retail market and CEO Terry Booth said his company is “leveraging [its] strategic advisor” (IE, Nelson Peltz). Long story short, another major Canadian cannabis producer has disappointed the market. BNN Bloomberg's Andrew Bell will address all of this with chairman Michael Singer at 11:00 a.m. ET in Commodities.
ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM AT HBC
HBC CEO Helena Foulkes says the retailer is concentrating on “controlling the ‘controllables.’” Sounds good. But fact of the matter is the retailer’s adjusted EBITDA was halved and same-store sales slipped amid a “hyper-promotional market environment.” Meanwhile, no mention of the proposed privatization in today’s earnings release, and just some boilerplate language in the more detailed regulatory filing.
ECB QUANTITATIVE EASING
Just in time for Christine Lagarde’s debut as president, the European Central Bank will launch an asset-purchase program in November “for as long as necessary to reinforce the accommodative impact of its policy rates”. It’s also pushing the deposit rate for banks deeper into negative territory and says rates will stay where they are until there’s a “robust” improvement in the inflation outlook. Less than a half hour after the ECB decision, U.S. President Donald Trump reacted via Twitter, saying “they are trying, and succeeding, in depreciating the Euro … And the Fed sits, and sits, and sits.”
TRUMP’S TARIFF “GOOD WILL”
Overnight, Trump made news when he announced that, “as a gesture of good will” and at the request of China’s vice premier, the White House will postpone the next ramp-up in China tariffs to Oct. 15. Meanwhile, stocks rallied in early trading after our Bloomberg partners reported U.S. administration officials have started discussing the possibility of a “limited trade agreement” that would delay additional China tariffs and roll back some existing levies.
TSX CLOSING IN ON RECORD
We’re on all-time high watch for the TSX Composite Index after yesterday’s close put it within 59 points of the record set on April 23.
OTHER NOTABLE STORIES
-Nutrien says it’s planning eight-week shutdowns at three potash mines in Saskatchewan amid what the company calls a “short-term slowdown in global potash markets.”
-Mixed bag from Dollarama today as the company trimmed the top end of its full-year gross margin forecast and nudged up its same-store sales outlook. Meanwhile, second-quarter sales exceeded all analyst estimates tracked by Bloomberg.
-Empire Company’s adjusted profit soared 34 per cent in the fiscal first quarter amid low single-digit upticks in sales (total and comparable). The supermarket operator also reiterated its Project Sunrise cost-savings campaign will exceed the initial $500-million target.
NOTABLE RELEASES/EVENTS
-Notable earnings: Hudson's Bay Company, Dollarama, Transat, Empire Co., Broadcom, Oracle
-Notable data: Canadian new housing price index, U.S. CPI
-9:30 a.m. ET: Federation of Canadian Municipalities announces recommendations for federal party leaders in Toronto
-9:40 a.m. ET: NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh announcement in Brampton, ON re. health care funding
-9:45 a.m. ET: Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer delivers remarks in North York, ON
-9:45 a.m. ET: Supreme Court of Canada to release judgment in Sobey’s et al. vs Competition Bureau et al. (background here)
-11:00 a.m. ET: Liberal Party Leader Justin Trudeau makes announcement in Victoria (plus avail)
-8:00 p.m. ET: Federal leaders debate hosted by Maclean's
Every morning BNN Bloomberg's Managing Editor Noah Zivitz writes a ‘chase note’ to BNN Bloomberg's editorial staff listing the stories and events that will be in the spotlight that day. Have it delivered to your inbox before the trading day begins by heading to www.bnnbloomberg.ca/subscribe.
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