Noah Zivitz

Managing Editor, BNN Bloomberg

Archive

Tech stocks are sliding again this morning as persistent inflation fears cloud the outlook for the high-flying sector. The selling pressure is going global, with major European and Asian indices mostly in the red and futures pointing to losses at the start of trading for the Nasdaq. We’ll have plenty of actionable insight into the road ahead for markets this morning on The Open, including going to the heart of the inflation story with Citigroup Global Head of Commodity Research Ed Morse at 10:20 a.m. ET.

COLONIAL PIPELINE WEBSITE GOES DARK

Going straight to the source for the latest on the fuel pipeline outage was futile this morning. Colpipe.com was spitting out a 502 Bad Gateway error message, and the company’s tweets had vanished for all intents and purposes. While that initially raised new questions about the extent of the cyberattack (at least for me), the company eventually tweeted out an update, saying its website was suffering a service disruption “unrelated to the ransomware.” Our Bloomberg partners meanwhile are reporting that some gas stations along the U.S. east coast are already running empty. And, indeed, a spokesperson for Alimentation Couche-Tard told us its U.S. operations are "seeing some disruption."

A 'SCRAMBLE' FOR INDUSTRIAL REAL ESTATE

That wording is pulled straight from Jones Lang Lasalle’s latest report on red-hot demand for industrial real estate in the country’s largest city, with a tenth straight quarter of sub-2 per cent vacancy in Toronto during the first quarter of this year. No doubt booming e-commerce business is playing a big role; to wit: “of note, an e-commerce user purchased a former flea market on 40 acres of land … In an innovative way to secure a site for future use amid an extremely tight leasing market,” according to JLL. Read all about it here. We’ll speak with JLL’s CEO for Canada at 4:20 p.m. and consider the outlook for investing in industrial REITs.

OTHER NOTABLE STORIES

• Speculation became reality today for Domtar as the paper maker agreed to be acquired by B.C.-based Paper Excellence for US$55.00 per share in cash.
• National Bank took top spot in Surviscor’s latest ranking of Canadian discount brokerages. As Surviscor notes “there is no free lunch," and that’s demonstrated by low fees resulting in (relative) shortcomings on platforms.   
• Suncor and Atco this morning announced they’re partnering on a “world-scale” hydrogen project in Alberta that the companies say would help slash emissions at Suncor’s Edmonton refinery by 60 per cent. The announcement comes with a catch: Atco and Suncor say “further regulatory certainty and fiscal support is required for the project to progress to a sanctioning decision.” We’ll chase principals.
• Canadians appear to be investing in their sleep, at least based on Sleep Country Canada’s latest quarter: same-store sales up 19.6 per cent, while total revenue rose 20.7 per cent even amid forced store closures due to COVID. We’ve got CEO Dave Friesema on The Close at 3:20 p.m.
• Wattpad shed new light on its post-takeover growth plans last night, saying it plans to expand its workforce by almost 50 per cent this year now that its sale to Naver has closed. We’ll discuss the digital storytelling platform’s future with CEO Allen Lau at 10:30 a.m.
• Crombie REIT units will be on our radar today after the company announced it’s raising US$100 million in a pair of financings, including US$58.5 million via a bought deal priced at US$16.60 per unit (compared to Monday’s closing price of US$17.13).

NOTABLE RELEASES/EVENTS

• Notable earnings: TMX Group, Intact Financial, Kinross Gold, Keyera, George Weston, Aritzia, WildBrain
• International Energy Agency publishes market update on renewable energy
• Approx. 11 a.m.: CMHC CEO Romy Bowers addresses House of Commons Public Accounts Committee
• 11:30 a.m.: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau discusses COVID-19 situation alongside Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc, Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam, and Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Howard Njoo
• 1 p.m.: Environment and Climate Change Minister Jonathan Wilkinson addresses Making Nature Investable virtual summit
• 4 p.m.: Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland addresses House of Commons Finance Committee on Bill C-30 (budget implementation)
• OPEC publishes monthly oil market report