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  • Rogers shares jump as profit rises on strength in media, sports divisions

    Rogers Communications Inc. RCI-B-T +3.64%increase posted moderately positive 2026 guidance and increases to its revenue and net income in its fourth quarter, boosted by strong media earnings as the company looks to capitalize on its sports assets in the coming year.

    However, the company’s net new wireless mobile phone adds were much lower than last year, and other telecom metrics were either flat or down in the quarter, as the sector continues to face headwindsto growth.

    The Toronto-based communications and entertainment company forecastedan increase inservice revenue of between 3 and 5 per cent in 2026 compared to last year, with expected growth of between 1 and 3 per cent in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

    Rogers expects capital expenditures to be below 2025 levels, and free cash flow to improve.

    The guidance received a mild reaction from analysts.

    “We view the results and 2026 guidance as largely neutral to a modest positive for the shares at current levels,” said Royal Bank of Canada analyst Drew McReynolds in a note to investors Thursday morning.

    Telus alleges Bell ‘drastically degraded’ its ability to sign up new customers in CRTC complaint

    Rogers reported $5.2-billion of service revenue during the three-month period ended Dec. 31, up 16 per cent from last year. Total revenue was $6.1-billion, beating analyst consensus of $6-billion.

    Media revenue was up 126 per cent in the quarter, as a result of the Jul. 1 closing of Rogers’ acquisition of Bell’s former stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, as well as the Toronto Blue Jays’ World Series run last fall and higher advertising revenue related to the ramp of up the company’s content deal with Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.

    Net income was $710-million, up 27 per cent in the quarter compared to last year. Free cash flow was $1-billion, up 16 per cent, compared to analyst estimates of $943-million.

    However, the company added just 39,000 postpaid and prepaid mobile wireless customers in the quarter, compared with 95,000 in 2025and analyst expectations of about 50,000. Net internet adds were 22,000, down from 26,000 last year.

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    Meanwhile, the company’s average revenue per user – or ARPU, an important industry metric that measures the value of each subscriber – fell by 2.8 per cent, confirming analyst expectationsthat itwould continue to drag this year.

    Nonetheless, the company’s revenue from its telecom business remained essentially flat compared to last year, and churn – the rate of customer turnover on a monthly basis – among its postpaid wireless customers improved slightly.

    The industry is seeing a bumpy landscape for cellphone plan pricing and the effects of these hikes on financials.

    Cellphone plans could be getting more expensive after years of falling prices, data suggest

    In recent months, cellphone plan prices appeared broadly to have started to increase again after years of declines. Analysts celebrated the turn in trend, but have noted that its effect will take time to reach the bottom line, given that many subscribers are locked into two-year contracts and the number of new consumers has been curtailed by slow immigration.

    Yet in recent weeks, telecoms have turned back to steep promotions. In an earnings call Thursday morning, Rogers chief financial officer Glenn Brandt said the company’s rivals were offering “unsustainable discounting” through January.

    Chief executive officer Tony Staffieri said the company is instead focusing on growing margins by moving away from value propositions that rely solely on price, and offering tiered plans based on other benefits such as direct-to-cell satellite service.

    “There are certain price points that we see as being uneconomical. We don’t see building out wireless business on the back of price plans coming in at, say, $20, which is what you see in the marketplace today. We don’t get the logic on that,” he said.

    Rogers is planning to monetize its sports assets this year upon the planned acquisition of the remaining 25-per-cent portion of MLSE from Canadian businessman Larry Tanenbaum’s company, Kilmer Group. Rogers has the right to buy that share in July. The company has estimated that its sports assets will then be worth about $20-billion.

    Selling a minority stake could help the company pay down its $35.8-billion of long-term debt.

    Rogers was trading at $49.50 on the Toronto Stock Exchange before markets opened Thursday, down about 5.6 per cent from the beginning of the year but up more than 12 per cent from this time last year.

  • Fed holds key interest rate steady as economic view improves

    • The Federal Reserve held its key interest steady in a range between 3.5% and 3.75% after a recent run of interest rate cuts.
    • “Available indicators suggest that economic activity has been expanding at a solid pace. Job gains have remained low, and the unemployment rate has shown some signs of stabilization,” the central bank said in its post-meeting statement. “Inflation remains somewhat elevated.” 

    https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/28/fed-rate-decision-january-2026.html

  • Oil prices rise after Trump says a ‘massive Armada is heading to Iran’

    Crude oil prices rose Wednesday after President Donald Trump warned Iran that a “massive Armada” is heading in its direction and time is running out to make a deal on its nuclear program.

    Global benchmark Brent rose 55 cents, or 0.81%, to $68.12 per barrel by 10:33 a.m. ET. U.S. crude oil was up 63 cents, or 1.01%, to $63.02.

    “A massive Armada is heading to Iran. It is moving quickly, with great power, enthusiasm, and purpose,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social on Wednesday.

    U.S. Central Command said Monday that the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group had arrived in the Middle East “to promote regional security and stability.”

    Trump had threatened to attack Iran if it killed protestors during a mass uprising earlier this month. Thousands of people died after the Islamic Republic cracked down on the unrest. But the U.S. president has held back from military intervention so far.

    Trump said the fleet deployed to the Middle East is larger than the forces he ordered to the Caribbean before the U.S. captured former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

    “Like with Venezuela, it is, ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary,” Trump said of the carrier strike group Tuesday in the social media post.

    He called for Tehran to make a deal on its nuclear program.

    “Time is running out, it is truly of the essence! As I told Iran once before, MAKE A DEAL!,” Trump said.

    The president warned Iran that a possible attack would be worse than the bombing campaign he ordered last June on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities.

    “The next attack will be far worse! Don’t make that happen again,” he said.

  • METRO REPORTS 2026 FIRST QUARTER RESULTS

    2026 FIRST QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

    • Sales of $5,285.8 million, up 3.3%
    • Food same-store sales (1) up 1.6% and up 1.9% when adjusting for the Christmas shift (3)
    • Pharmacy same-store sales (1) up 3.9%
    • Net earnings of $226.3 million, down 12.8% and adjusted net earnings (1) of $248.7 million, up 1.3%
    • Fully diluted net earnings per share of $1.05, down 9.5% and adjusted fully diluted net earnings per share (1) of $1.16, up 5.5%
    • Earnings adjusted for the negative impact of $15.9 million ($21.6 million before taxes) for the direct costs related to the temporary shutdown of our frozen food distribution centre in Toronto
    • Declared dividend of $0.4075 per share, up 10.1% versus last year

    https://www.barchart.com/story/news/37253485/metro-reports-2026-first-quarter-results

  • CGI reports $442-million in first-quarter profit, up from a year ago

    CGI Inc. GIB-A-T reported a first-quarter profit of $442-million, up from $438.6-million a year earlier, as its revenue rose nearly eight per cent.

    The business and technology consulting firm says the profit amounted to $2.03 per diluted share for the quarter ended Dec. 31, up from $1.92 per diluted share a year earlier.

    Revenue for the three-month period totalled $4.08-billion, up from $3.79-billion.

    On an adjusted basis, CGI says it earned $2.12 per diluted share in its most recent quarter, up from $1.97 per diluted share a year earlier.

    Earlier this week, CGI announced a collaboration deal with OpenAI that will see it expand the use of artificial intelligence across its business and help clients adopt it in their operations.

    CGI has 94,000 consultants and professionals across the globe that provide business and technology consulting services.

  • Bank of Canada holds benchmark interest rate steady as expected amid trade uncertainty

    The Bank of Canada kept its benchmark interest rate steady on Wednesday and offered little guidance about where monetary policy will go next as U.S. protectionism continues to reshape the Canadian economy.

    As widely anticipated, the bank’s governing council kept the policy rate at 2.25 per cent, where it has been since October.

    Governor Tiff Macklem said this level “remains appropriate” given the bank’s outlook for slow, but positive economic growth, and subdued inflation. But he was non-committal about how long the bank would remain on hold or what its next move might be.

    “Uncertainty around our forecast is heightened and the range of possible outcomes is wider than usual. U.S. Trade policy remains unpredictable, and geopolitical risks are elevated,” Mr. Macklem said, according to the prepared text of his press conference opening statement.

    “The consensus was that elevated uncertainty makes it difficult to predict the timing or direction of the next change in the policy rate,” he added.

    Financial markets expect the bank to remain on hold through 2026.

    Live updates on today’s Bank of Canada rate decision

    Mr. Macklem and his team are navigating an unusually complex economic landscape. U.S. tariffs have hammered Canadian exports and undercut business confidence, leading to a slowdown in investment and hiring. Unemployment remains elevated at 6.8 per cent, with young people and workers in tariff-exposed industries bearing the brunt of labour market weakness.

    After a healthy rebound in gross domestic product growth in the third quarter of 2025, the bank now thinks GDP growth flatlined in the fourth quarter – with volatility driven by sharp swings in trade and business stockpiling.

    The bank’s new forecast, published Wednesday in its quarterly Monetary Policy Report, sees muted growth going forward, as economic activity is held back by trade uncertainty and slow population growth.

    GDP is expected to grow 1.1 per cent in 2026 and 1.5 per cent in 2027, which is largely unchanged from the last projection in October.

    This forecast remains highly conditional on U.S. trade policy, particularly the outcome of the upcoming review of the North American free trade pact, which Mr. Macklem flagged as an “important risk to the outlook.”

    Bank of Canada’s Tiff Macklem on lessons from the trade war and what risks he sees ahead

    There are also questions about how well, and how quickly, Canadian businesses and consumers can adjust to a world where preferential access to the U.S. market is no longer guaranteed.

    “The transition to the new trade environment could be smoother than we expect, with stronger business and household spending,” Mr. Macklem said. “Alternatively, the labour market could weaken further as trade impacts deepen, leading to lower household spending. Financial conditions could also tighten if volatility returns to markets.”

    Ultimately, the key question for the central bank is how this economic disruption feeds into consumer prices and inflation. And here, the bank appears relatively sanguine.

    Consumer Price Index inflation came in at 2.4 per cent in December, slightly above the bank’s 2-per-cent target. But the uptick in headline inflation was driven mostly be unusual year-over-year price comparisons due to the 2024 GST and HST tax holiday.

    The bank expects inflation to ease further in the coming months and to remain around 2 per cent through the year, as ongoing slack in the economy makes it hard for companies to pass along cost increases due to tariffs and other supply-chain disruptions.

    Importantly, the bank expects food price inflation to ease thanks to a recent slowdown in input cost growth across food supply chains.

    “Most cost indicators are now rising at a pace broadly consistent with inflation around 2 per cent,” the bank said in its MPR. “For example, growth in unit labour costs has been modest, and most import prices are now rising at a pace close to their historical averages.”

    Mr. Macklem said that the bank remains prepared to adjust interest rates if the outlook for inflation or economic growth changes. But reiterated the refrain that monetary policy is not well equipped to deal with the kind of economic disruption Canada is currently facing.

    “Monetary policy cannot compensate for the structural damage caused by tariffs, and it cannot target hard-hit sectors of the economy. But it can play a supporting role, helping the economy through this period of structural change, while maintaining inflation close to the 2 per cent target,” he said.

  • Gold miner shares jump as bullion prices hit record high of $5,100 an ounce

    Shares of gold miners jumped in morning trading on Monday, as bullion prices surged to a record high of US$5,100 an ounce, extending a historic rally driven by safe-haven demand amid geopolitical uncertainties and market volatility.

    Gold rose about 64 per cent in 2025, its steepest annual increase since 1979, fuelled by U.S. monetary policy easing, robust central bank buying and investor flows into ETFs as a hedge against global policy risks and macro uncertainty.

    A low-interest-rate environment and economic uncertainty traditionally favour non-yielding assets such as gold.

    “We now see gold reaching $6,000 per ounce by year-end, with the caveat that this is probably a conservative estimate and it could well go higher,” said analysts at Societe Generale.

    Bullion prices have set consecutive record peaks over the past week and have already risen more than 18 per cent this year.

    A higher gold price environment typically boosts miners’ revenues and margins, strengthens cash flows and balance sheets, and gives companies more room to fund expansion, dividends or debt reduction.

    Top miners Newmont NEMCL +1.80%increase rose 2.4 per cent and Barrick Mining ABX-T +3.44%increase climbed 2.6 per cent.

    Market expectations of potential interest cuts in the U.S. in 2026 have also contributed to the upward momentum in gold prices.

    Canadian miners Agnico Eagle Mines AEM-T +3.57%increase rose nearly 2 per cent and Kinross Gold K-T +4.67%increase gained nearly 3 pet cent.

    Tracking the bullion rally, silver prices scaled a new high above US$100 an ounce on Friday, building on its record 147-per-cent rise last year.

    “We expect a period of ’stronger for longer’ silver prices to persist in the near to medium term,” said Scotiabank analysts.

    Shares of Hecla Mining HL-N +4.68%increase and Coeur Mining CDE-N +2.91%increase rose 4.7 per cent and 4 per cent, respectively.

    Canada-based Endeavour Silver EDR-T +5.95%increase, Silvercorp Metals SVM-T +6.11%increase and Wheaton Precious Metals WPM-T +4.63%increase added between 4.1 per cent and 7.3 per cent.

    In addition, ETFs abrdn Physical Silver Shares and iShares Silver Trust each up jumped 7.8 per cent.

  • Franco-Nevada raises quarterly dividend, Albanese named chair

    Franco-Nevada Corp. FNV-T says it is raising its quarterly dividend by about 16 per cent.

    The gold royalty and streaming company says it will now pay a quarterly dividend of 44 US cents, up from 38 US cents.

    The company also announced that chair David Harquail will become chair emeritus, effective as of its May 12 annual meeting.

    The company says he will be replaced as chair by Tom Albanese, who is currently Franco-Nevada’s lead independent director.

    Before becoming chair in 2020, Harquail was Franco-Nevada’s chief executive for more than 13 years.

    Albanese is a former chief executive of Rio Tinto.

  • China’s Zijin Gold to acquire Canadian miner Allied Gold for $5.5-billion in cash

    Canadian gold miner Allied Gold Corp. AAUC-T +4.02%increase has agreed to be acquired by China’s Zijin Gold International Co. for $5.5-billion in cash.

    Zijin Gold, which is indirectly owned by the Chinese government, is paying $44 per share in cash, a 5.4-per-cent premium to Friday’s close, representing an all-time high for the stock.

    Toronto-based Allied was taken public in 2023 by former Yamana Gold Inc. founder Peter Marrone. Mr. Marrone, who became the company’s CEO, put US$30-million of his own money into Allied at the time. Allied operates three mines in West Africa, and produces about 375,000 ounces of gold a year.

    Gold bullion is in a historical bull market, fuelled in large part by geopolitical uncertainty caused by U.S. President Donald Trump. Gold over the past 24 hours has traded above US$5,000 an ounce for the first time.

    In early trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Monday,Allied’s shares traded up by about 3.5 per cent, signaling some uncertainty over whether the deal will close.

    The transaction will undergo both a national security review and net benefit review by the Canadian federal government.

    Over the past few years, Ottawa has cracked down on Chinese ownership in the Canadian critical minerals sector, even when the assets in question have been overseas.

    However, the government has mostly permitted Chinese investment in Canadian gold assets, owing to it not being a critical mineral. One exception was in 2020 when the government blocked the attempted acquisition of TMAC Resources Ltd. by Shandong Gold Mining Co. Ltd. The mine in question is located in the Canadian Arctic, and the deal was rejected because of national security concerns.

    Canada’s trade relations with China were once again brought to the fore on the weekend when Mr. Trump threatened to put 100 per cent tariffs on Canada if this country strikes a deal with China, although it is unclear what he exactly he was referring to.

    Canada doesn’t currently have a comprehensive free trade deal with China, and Prime Minister Mark Carney on Sunday reiterated that he has no intention of striking such a pact either.

    Mor

    However, since taking office Mr. Carney has improved Canada’s relationship with China in a bid to diversify trade away from reliance on the U.S. during the trade war.

    Mr. Carney recently announced a material reduction in tariffs on Canadian imports of Chinese electric cars. He also said that Canada was open to significantly more inbound investment from China in an array of sectors, although mining wasn’t mentioned specifically.

    What to know about the Canada-China tariff deal on EVs and canola

    Zijin Gold trades on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and is controlled by Zijin Mining Group Co. Ltd., which is partly owned by the state.

    Allied’s assets are all in Africa, ostensibly presenting no national security threat to Canada. The company operates gold mines in Mali and Côte d’Ivoire. It also has a project in Ethiopia.

    Allied says it expects the deal to close by late April, indicating that it doesn’t anticipate the transaction to be blocked by Ottawa.

    The deal requires at least two-thirds of votes cast by Allied shareholders to be in favour for it to proceed.

    Yamana Gold, which was founded by Mr. Marrone in the early 2000s, was sold in 2023 to Canada’s Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. and Pan American Silver Corp. for US$4.8-billion.