The latest business news as it happens
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Today’s top headlines
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8 a.m.
Cargojet reports lower profit, revenue in Q3
Cargojet Inc. reported its third-quarter profit and total revenue fall compared with a year ago.
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The air cargo services company says it earned $10.5 million or 61 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30, down from $83.4 million or $4.33 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue totalled $214 million, down from $232.7 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Cargojet says it earned 30 cents per share in its latest quarter, down from an adjusted profit of $2.18 per diluted share a year earlier.
Cargojet chief executive Ajay Virmani says the volumes for discretionary items are softening, but essential household goods are holding up well.
Virmani says the company is prudently trimming capital expenditures and working on identifying every cost saving opportunity.
The Canadian Press
7:30 a.m.
BCE cuts spending after blow from regulator
BCE Inc., Canada’s largest telecommunications company, said it will chop capital spending by $1 billion after a regulator ordered the country’s major phone providers to open up their broadband networks to smaller rivals at prescribed rates.
The decision by Canada’s telecom regulator applies to Ontario and Quebec, the two provinces where more than 60 per cent of the population lives, and is intended to bring more competition to home internet services and reduce costs for consumers.
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Vicky Eatrides, the chair and chief executive of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, said the ruling was a response to years of declining competition from independent internet sellers, a number of which have been acquired by the major telecom firms.
The regulator will set interim rates at which BCE and other large phone companies must sell wholesale access to their high-speed “fibre to the home” networks, and will hold more public hearings on the issue starting in February, Eatrides said in a speech Nov. 6.
For BCE, the ruling is set to curb growth in one its most important lines of business. The company has invested heavily in laying fiberoptic networks in Canadian cities and towns to sell higher-quality internet and television services, aiming to grab market share from Rogers Communications Inc. and other rivals. Ontario and Quebec are BCE’s most critical markets.
Derek DeCloet, Bloomberg
Before the opening bell: Stocks fall as Fed rate-cut doubts creep in
Stocks declined and dollar rose after comments by Minneapolis Fed president Neel Kashkari dampened hopes of speedy interest rate cuts from the United States central bank.
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S&P 500 futures lost 0.3 per cent, indicating that the U.S. equity benchmark will snap a six-day winning streak, while Europe’s Stoxx 600 index was little changed. West Texas Intermediate crude dropped below US$80 a barrel for the first time in more than two months. The dollar strengthened.
Kashkari, speaking in an interview on Fox News on Nov. 6, said it’s too soon to declare victory over inflation. He added that while there have been three months of promising data on inflation, it isn’t enough.
“There are a number of risk factors that could prevent inflation from easing in the nice, tidy sort of manner that people who are expecting a central bank pivot would like to see,” said Tom O’ Hara, a portfolio manager at Janus Henderson Investors.
Meanwhile, bond markets were broadly higher, led by the United Kingdom, as Bank of England chief economist Huw Pill hinted that rate cuts may be on the table by the middle of 2024 and German industrial output figures suggested that recession isn’t far off. Two-year gilt yields fell 11 basis points to 4.61 per cent and the rate on 10-year Treasuries slid five basis points to 4.59 per cent.
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In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index closed down 80.91 points at 19,743.94 on Monday.
Bloomberg
What to watch today
The Bank of Canada hosts its annual economic conference, with governor Tiff Macklem among speakers. Deputy governor Sharon Kozicki will make opening remarks for this year’s John Kuszczak Memorial Lecture. The theme for 2023 is “The Future of the International Monetary and Financial System.” Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, International Monetary Fund and University of California Berkeley, makes the keynote address.
Quebec will release its economic update at noon.
The Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters hosts its 2023 National Manufacturing Conference and annual general meeting in Ottawa. Speakers include David Cohen, U.S. ambassador to Canada, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, International Trade Minister Mary Ng, Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault and Alan Arcand, chief economist at CME.
Bombardier Inc. chief executive Eric Martel will give the keynote address at the AIAC Canadian Aerospace Summit in Ottawa.
Data releases today included Canadian merchandise trade balance, and the goods and services trade balance in the United States.
Expect earnings reports from Saudi Aramco, Suncor Energy Inc., Cargojet Inc., Uber Inc., Ovintiv Inc., TransAlta Corp. and EQB Inc.
Need a refresher on yesterday’s top headlines? Get caught up here.
Additional reporting by The Canadian Press, Associated Press and Bloomberg
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2023-11-07 12:34:05Z
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