Noah Zivitz

Managing Editor, BNN Bloomberg

Archive

There's some optimism today that China and the United States will stave off an escalation in their tariff feud. The Wall Street Journal is reporting American negotiators have offered to cancel the tariff hike scheduled to take effec on Sunday and slash existing levies on $360-billion worth of Chinese exports. And U.S. President Donald Trump teased something bigger in a tweet that lit up markets this morning. 

SIMS ON GOING PRIVATE 

Ed Sims is breathing a little easier knowing he no longer has to deal with the quarter-by-quarter grind of being a publicly-traded company. “We get the luxury now of being able to plan in private, and not being accountable to quarterly sell-side analysts,” the CEO of WestJet told BNN Bloomberg shortly after the takeover of his airline by Onex was completed. We’ll assess WestJet’s ability to become the “global network carrier” Sims said he’s striving to build outside the confines of analyst scrutiny, and consider the merits (or not) of the quarterly reporting cycle.

SPEAKING OF THE QUARTERLY GRIND…

Perhaps Calvin McDonald is a little envious of Ed Sims this morning. The CEO of Lululemon just delivered a 23-per-cent surge in quarterly revenue, a 16-per-cent gain in same-store sales, and a 35-per-cent spike in quarterly earnings per share. With numbers like that, “the company seems to be performing gangbusters,” said The Street’s guest co-host, Jeff Weniger. Yet the apparel company’s stock is getting punished in pre-market trading, seemingly because of a fourth-quarter profit forecast range whose midpoint misses the average analyst estimate by 1.5 cents.

FED ON HOLD, LAGARDE’S DEBUT DECISION

The U.S. Federal Reserve left rates unchanged yesterday in an unanimous decision and indicated it could remain on hold for the entirety of 2020. An election year, no less, which begs the question of whether Chairman Jerome Powell will remain U.S. President Donald Trump’s punching bag on the campaign trail. Elsewhere in central bank land, the European Central Bank left rates unchanged in Christine Lagarde’s inaugural decision as president of that bank.  

NEW DETAILS ON CP CRUDE DERAILMENT

In the most detailed assessment to date of the CP derailment that occurred Monday near Guernsey, Saskatchewan, the Transportation Safety Board estimates 1.5 million litres of oil was spilled in the accident. According to the TSB, 23 cars jumped the tracks, 20 of which were breached and “released product and became engulfed in a large pool fire which burned for approximately 24 hours.”

OTHER NOTABLE STORIES

-Yesterday it was HBC, today it’s Canfor that’s at the centre of conflicting recommendations by major proxy advisory services. The big forestry company this morning said Egan-Jones and Institutional Investor Services are advising clients to vote in favour of the proposed privatization by Jimmy Pattison’s Great Pacific Capital Corp. Yesterday, Glass Lewis came out against the $16/share offer.

-It’s election day in the U.K., with the big question being whether Boris Johnson’s Conservatives can secure a majority to push through his Brexit strategy. We’ll have updates today from our CTV News colleagues in London. 

-That other big aviation takeover is still a work in progress, and this morning Transat A.T. said it’s aiming for its tie-up with Air Canada to close by the second quarter of next year.

-Shares of Saudi Aramco climbed again in their second day of trading, giving the giant oil producer the US$2-trillion+ market valuation that the kingdom initially targeted.

NOTABLE RELEASES/EVENTS

-Notable earnings: Empire Company, Transat, Transcontinental, Costco, Oracle

-745: European Central Bank releases interest rate decision (plus 830 news conference)

-1100: Ontario Securities Commission hearing re. Catalyst Capital-HBC

-1255: Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz delivers speech in Toronto (remarks on bank’s site at 1245, Q&A at ~1400)

Programming note: BNN Bloomberg will air Bloomberg Television’s special coverage of the U.K. election today from 5 p.m.-7 p.m. ET/2 p.m.-4 p.m. PT. Therefore, there will be no Market Call Tonight. Regular programming will resume tomorrow, Dec. 13.