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Noah Zivitz

Managing Editor, BNN Bloomberg

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Now what? That remains the most important question for U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May after her Brexit plan was swatted down by legislators yesterday. Today, the PM faces a no-confidence vote. If she survives, she’ll be left with a little more than two months to stave off a disorderly divorce from the European Union. In the meantime, the EU’s top Brexit negotiator warned this morning the bloc of nations is “stepping up our efforts to be prepared for that possibility.”

TSX EXTENDS WINNING STREAK

The Composite Index made it eight for eight yesterday while closing above 15,000 for the first time since Dec. 5. Canadian stocks have now climbed more than nine per cent since the trough on Christmas Eve.

'FULL-BLOWN CRISIS' IN ALBERTA NATURAL GAS INDUSTRY

That’s according to Hal Kvisle, the former CEO of TransCanada and Talisman – and now a member of Alberta’s natural gas advisory panel. He’s warning tens of thousands of jobs are at stake and saying the province would be “crazy” not to explore similar intervention as the forced production cuts that helped lift the price of Western Canada Select oil. The government met with a couple dozen industry executives yesterday for input on what can be done to boost the Alberta AECO natural gas prices (last seen hovering around US$1.54/MMBtu). We’ll chase some of the participants.

CANADIANS SEE PIPELINE CRISIS, BUT NOT THE TOP ISSUE

A new Angus Reid Institute poll shows a majority (58 per cent) of Canadians think the lack of new pipeline capacity is a crisis. No surprise to see that view is most prominent in Alberta and Saskatchewan and less common in Quebec. Even so, it doesn’t look like it will be the ballot box issue in the fall federal election, with almost every major age/gender bracket indicating the cost of living is the top issue they’re dealing with.

OTHER NOTABLE STORIES

-The Indian Resource Council of Canada, which represents more than 100 First Nations, is meeting today near Calgary to consider a potential bid to acquire Trans Mountain from the federal government. Lots of questions to consider. Among them: what’s the financing plan? BNN Bloomberg's Tara Weber will be reporting live on location from the IRCC meeting.

-The coveted POT ticker symbol is officially up for grabs in Canada. The Toronto Stock Exchange disclosed yesterday that because of “significant interest” in PotashCorp’s old listing identification, it’s going to conduct a random lottery for POT in conjunction with the Venture, Canadian Securities Exchange and Aequitas NEO. The winner will be selected Jan. 30. Details here.

-Shares of Snap Inc. are down almost 10 per cent in pre-market trading after the company disclosed its CFO is planning to resign.

NOTABLE RELEASES/EVENTS

-Notable earnings: Kinder Morgan Canada, Alcoa, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, CSX, Alcoa

-2:00 p.m. ET: Confidence vote in U.K. Parliament

-2:00 p.m. ET: U.S. Federal Reserve releases Beige Book

-00: Husky's MEG offer scheduled to expire

-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau holds cabinet retreat in Sherbrooke, Que. (runs to Friday)

-The partial U.S. government shutdown is now into a 26th day.

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.