Category: Uncategorized

• Nonfarm payrolls increased a seasonally adjusted 177,000 for the month, slightly below the downwardly revised 185,000 in March but above the Dow Jones estimate for 133,000.
• The unemployment rate, however, stayed at 4.2%, as expected, indicating that the labor market is holding relatively stable.
• Average hourly earnings rose just 0.2% for the month, below the 0.3% forecast, while the annual rate of 3.8% also was 0.1 percentage point less than expected

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/02/jobs-report-april-2025.html

Reiterating 2025 Guidance and Robust Long-term Growth Outlook

CALGARY, AB, May 1, 2025 /CNW/ – AltaGas Ltd. (“AltaGas” or the “Company”) (TSX:ALA.TO) reported first quarter 2025 financial results and provided an update on its operations, projects and other corporate developments.

Read more at newswire.ca

TC Energy Corporation (TRP) on Thursday reported first-quarter net income of $700.7 million.

The Calgary, Alberta-based company said it had net income of 65 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, came to 66 cents per share.

The results missed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 70 cents per share.

The energy infrastructure company posted revenue of $2.52 billion in the period, which also did not meet Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $2.54 billion.

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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research.

Access a Zacks stock report on TRP at https://www.zacks.com/ap/TRP

Cameco Corp. CCO-T +1.29%increase reported a first-quarter profit as its revenue rose compared with a year ago, citing strong production of uranium and fuel services.

The company says it earned a profit attributable to equity holders of $70-million or 16 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended March 31, compared with a loss of $7-million or two cents per diluted share a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, Cameco says it earned 16 cents per diluted share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 11 cents per diluted share a year earlier.

Revenue for the quarter totalled $789-million, up from $634-million a year earlier.

Uranium production totalled 6.0 million pounds for the quarter, up from 5.8 million a year earlier, while sales volumes amounted to 6.9 million pounds, down from 7.3 million pounds. Cameco’s average realized price for uranium was $89.12 per pound, up from $77.33 a year earlier.

Cameco’s fuel services business saw production of 3.9 million kilograms, up from 3.7 million a year earlier, while fuel services sales volumes totalled 2.4 million kilograms, up from 1.5 million kilograms. Fuel services reported an average realized price of $56.64 per kilogram, up from $48.36 in the first quarter of 2024.

Thomson Reuters TRI-T +1.53%increase on Thursday reaffirmed 2025 financial guidance amid tariff-induced global economic turmoil that has led some companies to revise or scrap forecasts altogether.

The Toronto-based content and technology company reported quarterly revenue rising 1 per cent to $1.9-billion, slightly below analyst expectations of $1.93-billion, according to LSEG data.

Organic revenue, which strips out the impact of currency moves, acquisitions and asset sales, rose 6 per cent.

Chief Executive Officer Steve Hasker said businesses and government agencies were broadly more cautious about investment decisions amid the turmoil, but most of Thomson Reuters revenue was recurring in nature, often locked into multi-year contracts.

“Everyone is bracing themselves,” Hasker said in a post-results interview of the unstable economic backdrop caused in part by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.

“But as we’ve seen with Microsoft, we haven’t seen any impact yet … We’ve made a good start to the year, meeting or exceeding our expectations,” he added, referring to Wednesday’s results from the U.S. tech giant.

Thomson Reuters is also expected to reaffirm its 2026 organic revenue growth target of 7.5 per cent to 8 per cent, Chief Financial Officer Mike Eastwood said. “Steve and I remain confident in delivering all aspects of our 2026 framework.”

The company, which owns the Westlaw legal database, Reuters news agency and the Checkpoint tax and accounting service, reported first-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $1.12. Wall Street expected a profit of $1.05 per share.

Shares of Thomson Reuters, which have risen 15 per cent since the beginning of the year, have outpaced the S&P 500 index, which has fallen 5 per cent over the same period.

Organic revenue for the company’s “Big 3” business segments, comprising its legal, corporates and tax and accounting businesses, rose 9 per cent in the quarter.

Revenue at constant currencies in the legal professionals business fell 3 per cent due to the impact of the sale of legal marketing business FindLaw. Revenue in the tax and accounting division rose 12 per cent, boosted by the purchase of SafeSend.

Reuters News revenue fell 7 per cent after benefiting from non-recurring generative AI licensing revenue a year ago.

Second-quarter company-wide organic revenue is expected to pick up from the first quarter and rise 7 per cent. The company reaffirmed its forecast for full-year organic revenue to increase by 7 per cent to 7.5 per cent.

Thomson Reuters purchased tax automation company cPaperless, LLC, owner of SafeSend, for $600-million in cash in the first quarter.

The company has said it has $10-billion to spend on potential acquisitions through 2027.

Woodbridge Co. Ltd., the Thomson family holding company and controlling shareholder of Thomson Reuters, also owns The Globe and Mail.

Oil prices fell on Thursday, extending a steep decline the previous session due to signs that Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, could raise production and data showing a contraction in the U.S. economy, the world’s top oil consumer.

Brent crude futures fell $1.1, or 1.8 per cent, to $59.96 a barrel as of 1207 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell $1.14, or 2 per cent, to $57.07.

“The oil market remains concerned about weakening oil demand growth over the coming months due to the trade tensions as well as a faster unwinding of the OPEC+ production cuts,” said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo.

Saudi Arabia is telling allies and industry experts that it is unwilling to prop up the oil market with supply cuts and can manage a prolonged period of low prices, sources told Reuters.

Several OPEC+ members will suggest the group accelerates output hikes in June for a second consecutive month, three people familiar with OPEC+ talks have said. Eight OPEC+ countries will meet on May 5 to decide a June output plan.

Meanwhile, the U.S. economy contracted for the first time in three years in the first quarter, swamped by a flood of imports as businesses raced to avoid higher costs from tariffs and underscoring the disruptive impact of President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy.

Trump’s tariffs have made it probable the global economy will slip into recession this year, a Reuters poll suggested.

“The U.S. administration’s volatile tariff policy strategy, especially those involving China, has made traders that were already skittish on the long-standing oversupply this year nervous about loosening fundamentals.” MUFG analyst Ehsan Khoman said.

A demand outlook clouded by trade disputes coupled with an OPEC+ decision to increase supply will weigh on oil prices this year, a Reuters poll showed on Wednesday.

Analytics firm Kpler has lowered its 2025 global oil demand growth forecast to 640,000 barrels per day from 800,000 bpd, citing the China-U.S. trade war and weak Indian demand.

U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell by 2.7 million barrels last week on higher export and refinery demand, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. That compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 429,000 barrel rise.

Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. has won access to Seven & i Holdings Co.’s confidential financial data after months of effort, a critical step in its bid to take over its Japanese convenience store rival.

The two companies confirmed late Wednesday that they signed a non-disclosure agreement allowing them to share private information. The pact will help them push forward talks on a potential transaction while facilitating due diligence and collaboration on their plans to exchange with regulators, Couche-Tard said in a statement.

“We appreciate the special committee of Seven & i engaging in substantive discussions regarding our proposal and providing access to diligence,” Couche-Tard Chief Executive Alex Miller said in the statement. “We look forward to working collaboratively with Seven & i in the interests of all stakeholders.”

The agreement is a significant development for Couche-Tard, whose executives have expressed frustration in recent weeks with what they called the “very limited” engagement from Seven & i, the owner of the 7-Eleven chain. Couche-Tard founder and chairman Alain Bouchard said in March his team had tried repeatedly to meet with Seven & i executives to talk about a deal but that “it is hard if not impossible.”

Couche-Tard’s current offer for Seven & i is worth about 7.4 trillion yen (US$52-billion). Mr. Bouchard has dangled the possibility of sweetening that amount if Seven & i opened its books for scrutiny.

The pact signed by the two companies also includes a standstill provision, Seven & i said in a separate statement. Such provisions typically restrict a buyer from taking certain actions while the parties negotiate a potential deal, such as purchasing shares or other things that could lead to a hostile takeover.

“The execution of the NDA is a positive step in the constructive engagement process” with Couche-Tard, said Paul Yonamine, chair of Seven & i’s independent special committee. “Unlocking significant value for shareholders and other stakeholders remains Seven & i’s top priority,” he said.

The Japanese company is pursuing a dual-track effort in its bid to create that value: Exploring a possible sale to Couche-Tard and going it alone as a more focused business. As part of plans to remain independent, it is selling its underperforming supermarkets and has announced plans to list a portion of its U.S. retail operation to fund a massive stock buyback.

Shares of Seven & i climbed as much as 3.5 per cent Thursday morning on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. But they’re still trading more than 20 per cent below Couche-Tard’s offer, suggesting investors believe a deal remains improbable.

News that a non-disclosure agreement has been signed “crystallizes that Couche-Tard is not ready to walk away, and that Seven & i remains highly committed to pursue its own value creation path,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Irene Nattel said in a note to clients. “There is far from any certainty that an agreement will be reached and approved by regulatory authorities,” she said, adding she believes there’s “a long road ahead.”

Seven & i has said Couche-Tard is downplaying the antitrust risks of a potential merger of the two retail giants, vowing it won’t be drawn into “limbo for multiple years” as regulators decide its fate. The Tokyo company has said its directors have always been open to a merger or go-private transaction, but only if there’s a high certainty that a deal will close.

Couche-Tard executives have said there is “a path to regulatory approval” in the United States. But Seven & i CEO Stephen Dacus has expressed doubts about that claim.

“They just kept saying ‘Trust us. We can do this. We’ll work it out,’ ” Mr. Dacus told The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper in March. He said although Couche-Tard has experience in winning antitrust approval for previous takeovers, many of those have been small deals and nothing on the scale of this potential tie-up. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission will be “much stricter” in this case, he said.

The two companies have been working together with investment bankers on securing buyers for stores they might have to divest, including an estimated 2,000 North American locations. Private equity firms are seen by analysts as the likely buyers.

The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits increased more than expected last week, potentially hinting at a pickup in layoffs from tariffs, which weighed on the economy in the first quarter.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits jumped 18,000 a seasonally adjusted 241,000 for the week ended April 26, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 224,000 claims for the latest week.

The economy contracted last quarter for the first time in three years, swamped by a flood of imports as businesses tried to avoid duties from President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Economists expect the aggressive trade policy to result in a wave of job losses. The tariffs, expected to be a drag on domestic demand, are already prompting some companies to reduce staff. United Parcel Service said on Tuesday it would slash 20,000 jobs and shut 73 facilities as part of a planned reduction in deliveries for Amazon.com.

Businesses in general have mostly adopted a wait-and-see attitude and are retaining their workforces, while remaining cautious about adding head count.

The number of people receiving benefits after an initial week of aid, a proxy for hiring, soared 83,000 to a seasonally adjusted 1.916 million during the week ending April 19, the claims report showed.

The claims data have no bearing on April’s employment report, scheduled for release on Friday. Nonfarm payrolls likely increased by 130,000 jobs last month after rising 228,000 in March, a Reuters survey of economists showed. The unemployment rate is forecast unchanged at 4.2 per cent.

Gildan Activewear Inc. saw its earnings rise to US$84.7 million in its latest quarter. The Montreal-based apparel maker, which keeps its book in U.S. dollars, says the first-quarter profit compared with net earnings of US$78.7 million a year earlier. Net sales for the quarter ended March 30 totalled US$711.7 million, up from US$695.8 million. On an adjusted basis, Gildan says it earned US$89.8 million in the quarter, compared with US$99.1 million a year ago. Those figures translated to adjusted earnings of 59 cents US per diluted share, flat compared with a year before. Financial markets data firm Refinitiv said on average analysts had expected adjusted earnings of 57 cents US per diluted share. This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 29, 2025. Companies in this story: (TSX:GIL)