Noah Zivitz

Managing Editor, BNN Bloomberg

Archive

Investors and traders are still making sense of the “tape bomb” (as Bloomberg’s Vince Cignarella described it a few minutes before yesterday’s closing bells) that hit during U.S. Federal Reserve Jerome Powell’s news conference. Sure, he didn’t rule out raising rates at every FOMC meeting this year. But he also didn’t rule out not raising rates at every FOMC meeting this year. And also said “it is not possible” to predict future policy decisions. As is so often the case, reaction to the Fed can do a 180 overnight. For now, futures are pointing to a tame open. We’ll have plenty of market insight throughout the day, and I can’t wait for our conversation with former Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker shortly after 9 a.m.

BoC ‘NOT IN THE BUSINESS’ OF MORTGAGE ADVICE

That was the message from Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Rogers when asked yesterday (by Michelle!) about the game of chicken that’s playing out in the mortgage market as buyers/investors flock to variable-rate loans amid skepticism that the central bank will hike as much as the market anticipates. We’ll dive into that issue (which was so thoroughly reported by Bloomberg’s Ari Altstedter) today at 8:30 a.m. with a broker.

STAFFIERI SHARES HIS VIEW ON ROGERS             

For the first time since he took the reins in November, Tony Staffieri held fort on a Rogers Communications earnings call this morning. During his presentation to analysts, he praised the company’s wireless performance and singled out the cable unit as being in need of improvement. Read all about Staffieri’s comments, the quarter, and what’s ahead, here.

WHEN SUPPLY CHAIN MISHAPS AND ALPHONSO DAVIES COLLIDE

As central banks sucked up all the oxygen yesterday, we also dipped our toe into another casualty of supply chain problems: Canada Soccer. Arguably at a time of unprecedented interest in our national teams, after the women won gold at the Olympics and now as the men enter a crucial round of World Cup qualifying tonight, you’d be hard pressed to actually find one of their jerseys. Check out Hilary Punchard’s piece (which also got some love from TSN) at BNNBloomberg.ca.

OTHER NOTABLE STORIES

• Tesla delivered another quarter of big growth, but tempered enthusiasm with a warning about supply chain problems, which it said are "likely to continue through 2022." Despite that hassle, fourth-quarter per-share profit surged 218 per cent and beat expectations.
• Intel shares are drifting lower in pre-market trading after the chipmaker delivered a mixed forecast, with a profit outlook that trails the average estimate, while the revenue view is outpacing Wall Street's expectation. As for the quarter that just wrapped, Intel boasted record Data Center Group revenue, and also claimed its haul from good old fashioned client computing proves "PCs are more essential than ever."
• Some stocks to watch: Vancouver-based biotech Zymeworks said it’s raising US$100 million in a mix of common shares and warrants. And Killam Apartment Real Estate Investment Trust announced it’s raising $85.3 million in a bought-deal unit sale.  
• Uber Canada announced this morning it reached a deal with United Food and Commercial Workers Canada that will see the union offer representation (if requested) by Uber drivers.

NOTABLE RELEASES/EVENTS

• Notable data: Canadian job vacancies; U.S. GDP (Q4), initial jobless claims, durable goods orders
• Notable earnings: Rogers Communications (8 a.m. conference call), Canadian Pacific Railway, Apple, McDonald's, Visa, MasterCard, Robinhood Markets, U.S. Steel
• 1110: Teck Resources CEO Don Lindsay addresses TD Securities conference
• 1730: Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne addresses House Standing Committee on Industry and Technology hearing re. critical minerals