Japan’s Nikkei 225 falls 2% as Asia-Pacific stocks slip; China’s April trade data comes in above expectations
China’s April exports slow, imports unchanged as virus curbs expand
Calendar: What investors need to know for the week ahead
Monday May 9
China trade surplus, aggregate yuan financing, new yuan loans and money supply
Japan PMI
(8:30 a.m. ET) Canadian building permits for March.
(10 a.m. ET) U.S. wholesale inventories for March. The Street is projecting an increase of 1.8 per cent from the previous month.
Earnings include: Ballard Power Systems Inc.; Boardwalk REIT; CT Real Estate Trust; Curaleaf Holdings Inc.; Element Fleet Management Corp.; Ero Copper Corp.; Finning International Inc.; Galaxy Digital Holdings Ltd.; George Weston Ltd.; Hudbay Minerals Inc.; Ovintiv Inc.; RioCan REIT; Ritchie Bros Auctioneers
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Tuesday May 10
Japan household spending
(6 a.m. ET) U.S. NFIB Small Business Economic Trends Survey for April.
Earnings include: Bausch Health Companies Inc.; Converge Technologies Solutions Corp.; Cronos Group Inc.; Dentalcorp Holdings Ltd.; Equitable Group Inc.; Exchange Income Corp.; Freehold Royalties Ltd.; Innergex Renewable Energy Inc.; Intact Financial Corp.; InterRent REIT; Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.; Keyera Corp.; Kinross Gold Corp.; Northland Power Inc.; Nuvei Corp.; NuVista Energy Ltd.; Parex Resources Inc.; Pet Valu Holdings Ltd.; Spartan Delta Corp.; Summit Industrial Income REIT; Suncor Energy Inc.; Superior Plus Corp.
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Wednesday May 11
China CPI and PPI
Germany CPI
(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. CPI for April. Consensus is a rise of 0.2 per cent from March and 8.1 per cent year-over-year.
(2 p.m. ET) U.S. Treasury budget for April.
Earnings include: Birchcliff Energy Ltd.; Boralex Inc.; Boyd Group Services Inc.; CCL Industries Inc.; Crombie REIT; Dye & Durham Ltd.; Goeasy Ltd.; Granite REIT; Interfor Corp.; Manulife Financial Corp.; Pan American Silver Corp.; Paramount Resources Ltd.; Power Corp. of Canada; Smart REIT; Stantec Inc.; Stella-Jones Inc.; Sun Life Financial Inc.; Tricon Capital Group Inc.; Vermilion Energy Inc.; Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd.; WSP Global Inc.
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Thursday May 12
Japan current account surplus and bank lending
(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. initial jobless claims for week of May 7. The Street expects 180,000, down 20,000 from the previous week.
(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. PPI for April. Consensus is a rise of 0.5 per cent from March and 10.7 per cent year-over-year.
Earnings include: Algonquin Power & Utilities Ltd.; Allkem Ltd.; Brookfield Asset Management Inc.; Canada Goose Holdings Inc.; Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd.; Cascades Inc.; CI Financial Corp.; Crescent Point Energy Corp.; Docebo Inc.; Dream Office REIT; ECN Capital Corp.; E-L Financial Corp. Ltd.; First Majestic Silver Corp.; H&R REIT; iA Financial Corp. Inc.; Intertape Polymer Group Inc.; Leon’s Furniture Ltd.; Lithium Americas Corp.; Northwest Healthcare Properties REIT; Peyto Exploration & Development Corp.; Primo Water Corp.; Quebecor Inc.; Terrascend Corp.
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Friday May 13
Euro zone industrial production
(8:30 a.m. ET) Canada’s new motor vehicle sales for March. Estimate is a decline of 20.0 per cent year-over-year.
(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. import and export price indexes for April. Consensus projections are increases of 0.6 per cent and 0.7 per cent, respectively.
(10 a.m. ET) U.S. University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment for April.
(10:30 a.m. ET) Bank of Canada Senior Loan Officer Survey.
Earnings include: Definity Financial Corp.; Emera Inc.; NexGen Energy Ltd.; Onex Corp.; Seabridge Gold Inc.; Solaris Resources Inc.
Longtime China bull Stephen Roach says there’s ‘no way’ Beijing will meet its 5.5% growth target
BCE Reports First-Quarter Profit Up More Than 30 Per Cent From Year Ago
BCE Inc. reported its first-quarter profit rose more than 30 per cent compared with a year ago as its revenue also moved higher.
BCE CEO Mirko Bibic said it was the first quarter since the start of the pandemic in which the company’s consolidated financial results surpassed pre-COVID levels.
The company said its profit attributable to common shareholders totalled $877 million or 96 cents per share for the quarter ended March 31, up from $642 million or 71 cents per share a year earlier.
Operating revenue totalled $5.85 billion, up from $5.71 billion in the first three months of 2021.
Wireless revenue rose to $2.21 billion compared with $2.1 billion a year ago, while wireline revenue slipped to $3.01 billion from $3.08 billion. Bell Media revenue totalled $825 million, up from $713 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, BCE said it earned 89 cents per share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 78 cents per share a year earlier.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 5, 2022.
Telus Reports Q1 Profit And Revenue Up From Year Ago, Raises Quarterly Dividend
Telus Corp. reports that its first-quarter profit increased compared with a year ago as its revenue climbed more than six per cent.
The telecom company has also raised its quarterly dividend to 33.86 cents per share, up 7.1 per cent from 31.62 cents.
Telus says its net income attributable to common shares totalled $385 million or 28 cents per share for the quarter ended March 31, compared with $331 million or 25 cents per share a year ago.
Operating revenues and other income rose to $4.28 billion compared with $4.02 billion in the first quarter of 2021.
The company says it added a record 148,000 new customers in the quarter including 46,000 mobile phones, 30,000 internet additions and 26,000 security additions.
On an adjusted basis, Telus says it earned 30 cents per share in its most recent quarter compared with 27 cents per share a year ago.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 6, 2022.
Enbridge Reports $1.93B First-Quarter Profit As Energy Demand And Prices Grow
Enbridge Inc. says its profits rose in the first quarter as energy demand and prices continue to grow.
The pipeline company reported earnings attributable to common shareholders of $1.927 billion compared with $1.9 billion in the same quarter last year.
Enbridge says the profit amounted to 95 cents per share for the quarter ended March 31 compared with 94 cents per share a year ago.
The Calgary-based company said cash provided by operating activities hit $2.94 billion in the first three months of the year, compared with $2.56 billion in the same period of 2021.
On an adjusted basis, Enbridge says it earned 84 cents per share for the quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 81 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
Enbridge president and CEO Al Monaco says growing energy demand and an underinvestment in new supply is driving energy shortages and higher prices.
“This global energy crisis further heightens the essential role that conventional energy will play for decades to come,” he said in a statement.
“Now, more than ever, it’s evident that all forms of energy, conventional and low carbon, are needed to meet the growing demand while ensuring society has access to affordable, reliable, secure and cleaner energy.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 6, 202
Job growth accelerated by 428,000 in April, more than expected as jobs picture stays strong
The U.S. economy added slightly more jobs than expected in April amid an increasingly tight labor market and despite surging inflation and fears of a growth slowdown, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
Nonfarm payrolls grew by 428,000 for the month, a bit above the Dow Jones estimate of 400,000. The unemployment rate was 3.6%, slightly higher than the estimate for 3.5%. The April total was identical to the downwardly revised count for March.
There also was some better news on the inflation front: Average hourly earnings continued to grow, but at a 0.3% level for the month that was a bit below the 0.4% estimate. On a year-over-year basis, earnings were up 5.5%, about the same as in March but still below the pace of inflation.
An alternative measure of unemployment that includes discouraged workers and those holding part-time jobs for economic reasons, sometimes referred to as the “real” unemployment rate, edged higher to 7%.
The labor force participation rate, a key measure of worker engagement, fell 0.2 percentage points for the month to 62.2%, tied for the lowest of the year as the labor force contracted by 363,000.
Leisure and hospitality again led job growth, adding 78,000. The unemployment rate for the sector, which was hit hardest by the Covid pandemic, plunged to 4.8%, its lowest since September 2019 after peaking at 39.3% in April 2020. Average hourly earnings for the sector increased 0.6% on the month and are up 11% from a year ago.
Other big gainers included manufacturing (55,000), transportation and warehousing (52,000), Professional and business services (41,000), financial activities (35,000) and health care (34,000). Retail also showed solid growth, adding 29,000 primarily from gains in food and beverage stores.
Some of the details in the report, though, were not as strong.
The survey of households actually showed a decline of 353,000, leaving the level 761,000 short of where it was in February 2020, just prior to the start of the pandemic.
Stock futures moved lower as Wall Street digested the report and government bond yields were mostly higher.
The report likely will do little to sway the Federal Reserve from its current path of interest rate increases. The central bank announced Wednesday it would increase its benchmark interest rate half a percentage point in what will be an ongoing effort to stamp out price increases running at their fastest pace in more than 40 years.
“Overall, with labor market conditions still this strong — including very rapid wage growth — we doubt that the Fed is going to abandon its hawkish plans because of the current bout of weakness in equities,” said Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics.
The job growth comes with U.S. economy experiencing its worst growth quarter since the start of the pandemic and worker output for the first three months that declined 7.5%, the biggest slowdown since 1947 and the second-worst quarter ever recorded. GDP was off 1.4% for the January-through-March period.
Canada’s trade minister, U.S. ambassador vow closer trade ties, despite differences
Trade Minister Mary Ng and U.S. counterpart Katherine Tai say they are forging closer trade ties between their two countries, in spite of lingering irritants.
Tai is in Ottawa for a two-day visit to Canada — her first since becoming President Joe Biden’s trade representative a year ago.
Tai says while the two countries clearly have trade differences, their interests are closely aligned in the context of competing with the rest of the world.
She also says Biden’s Buy American doctrine represents a federal procurement policy that shouldn’t be seen as a barrier to international trade.
Ng says she’s looking forward to showing her counterpart a GM facility Friday in Markham, Ont., where they will see integrated Canada-U.S. supply chains in action.
The pair are expected to meet with union leaders later today, as well as the owners of small and medium-sized businesses Friday in Toronto.