MORNING NEWS CALL REUTERS Canada Edition Wednesday, March 7, 2018
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MORNING NEWS CALL REUTERS Canada Edition Wednesday, March 7, 2018 TOP NEWS • After tariff fight loss, Trump economic adviser Cohn quits Gary Cohn, the top economic adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump and a voice for Wall Street in the White House, said on Tues- day he would resign, a move that came after he lost a fight over Trump's plans for hefty steel and aluminum import tariffs. • CN Rail to invest C$250 million to clear Western Canada grain backlog Canadian National Railway Co said it would invest more than C$250 million this year to improve its infrastructure to ease grain supply issues in Western Canada. • Canada's WestJet ordered to change hiring practices for new no-frills carrier Canada's WestJet Airlines must change its hiring strategy for the company's new bargain carrier, Swoop, an Air Line Pilots Associa- tion executive said on Tuesday, citing a recent Canadian labor board order. • Goldman puts London staff on notice for German move by June - sources Goldman Sachs has put more than a dozen UK-based banking, sales and trading staff on notice to move to Frankfurt within weeks, two sources with knowledge of the matter said, as it braces for divorce between Britain and the European Union. • Kobe Steel, Toyota hit with U.S. lawsuit over vehicle metal quality U.S. consumers have filed a lawsuit against Kobe Steel Ltd and Toyota Motor Corp accusing the companies of violating consumer protection laws and engaging in fraud by concealing the use of substandard metal components in vehicles. BEFORE THE BELL Canada’s main stock index futures tumbled in line with U.S. stock futures, a day after the resignation of Gary Cohn, the top eco- nomic adviser to President Donald Trump. Cohn’s departure led to a fall in global stocks and the U.S. dollar, against the safe-haven yen, as investors feared U.S. tilting towards protectionism. Gold prices were down on profit taking, while oil prices fell in line with the broad decline in global financial markets. STOCKS TO WATCH • Canadian National Railway Co (CNR) The company said it would invest more than C$250 million this year to improve its infrastruc- ture to ease grain supply issues in Western Canada. CN Rail, once considered the standard in railroad efficiency, has struggled with capacity constraints amid growing demand from the Western Canada grain market. The company on Monday installed Jean-Jacques Ruest as its interim chief executive after Luc Jobin stepped down abruptly. • Nexa Resources SA (NEXA). The Brazilian miner expects demand for zinc to outpace supply, keeping prices for the metal at $3,400 to $3,500 a ton for the rest of the year, Chief Executive Tito Martins said on Tuesday. Small mines in China, which previously ramped up output to meet demand, are unable to renew permits under new environmental policies and help meet demand growing at a rate of 2 to 2.5 percent annually, Martins said in an interview at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference in Toronto. "Prices have been very stable between $3,400 and $3,500 and we are assuming the price should remain, at the least, at the level they are for the full year," Martins said. Recent price declines were caused by U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to intro- duce tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, he added. • WestJet Airlines Ltd (WJA). The airline must change its hiring strategy for the company's new bargain carrier, Swoop, an Air Line Pilots Association executive said on Tuesday, citing a recent Canadian labor board order. The country's second-largest carrier can no longer recruit its pilots through two-year leaves of absence to fly for Swoop and will have to rescind any existing offers, Rob McFadyen, chairman of WestJet’s ALPA master executive council, said in a telephone interview. ALPA, which is negotiating its first contract with Calgary-based WestJet, said the carrier was trying to bypass the union by luring its own pilots to fly for Swoop under different working conditions. It was not immediately what conditions the pilots were being offered to fly for Swoop. In its March 2 order, seen by Reuters, the Canada Industrial Relations Board, or CIRB, told WestJet to "rescind the offer of a two-year leave of absence policy ... in order to fly for Swoop." COLUMN Is Aramco share sale distorting OPEC policy? Kemp By restraining production, OPEC and its allies have succeeded in eliminating excess oil stocks and accelerating the recovery in pric- es, but they are paying an increasingly high price in terms of market share. U.S. producers will capture all the growth in global oil con- MORNING NEWS CALL - CANADIAN EDITION March 7, 2018 sumption this year, according to forecasts from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The agency predicts total crude and liq- uids production will rise by 2.0 million barrels per day in 2018 ANALYSTS' RECOMMENDATION • Theratechnologies Inc (TH). CIBC raises target price to C$15 from C$10.30 after the FDA approval of Trogarzo is a very positive development for the company, and the market should react positively to the news, as development risk is now off the table. ECONOMIC EVENTS 0830 Trade balance for Jan: Expected -C$2.50 bln; Prior -C$3.19 bln 0830 Exports for Jan: Prior C$46.51 bln 0830 Imports for Jan: Prior C$49.70 bln 0830 Labor productivity rate for Q4: Prior -0.6 pct 1000 BoC rate decision : Expected 1.25 pct; Prior 1.25 pct COMPANIES REPORTING RESULTS Mar 7: Franco-Nevada Corp (FNV). Expected Q4 earnings of 27 cents per share Linamar Corp (LNR). Expected Q4 earnings of C$1.73 per share Obsidian Energy Ltd (PWT). Expected Q4 loss of 5 Canadian cents per share Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc (XENE). Expected Q4 loss of 11 cents per share Mar 8: Canadian Western Bank (CWB). Expected Q1 earnings of 71 Canadian cents per share CanWel Building Materials Group Ltd (CWX). Expected Q4 earnings of 7 Canadian cents per share Dorel Industries Inc (DIIb). Expected Q4 earnings of 44 cents per share Freehold Royalties Ltd (FRU). Expected Q4 earnings of 3 Canadian cents per share Hydrogenics Corp (HYG). Expected Q4 loss of 6 cents per share Petrus Resources Ltd (PRQ). Expected Q4 loss of 6 Canadian cents per share CORPORATE EVENTS 08:00 Titanium Transportation Group Inc (TTR). Q4 earnings conference call 08:30 Obsidian Energy Ltd (PWT). Q4 earnings conference call 09:00 AcuityAds Holdings Inc (AT). Q4 earnings conference call 09:30 Stuart Olson Inc (SOX). Q4 earnings conference call 10:00 TransGlobe Energy Corp (TGL). Q4 earnings conference call 10:30 Black Diamond Group Ltd (BDI). Q4 earnings conference call 11:00 Cortex Business Solutions Inc (CBX). Q2 earnings conference call 11:00 Newalta Corp (NAL). Q4 earnings conference call 11:00 Cona Resources Ltd (NBZ). Q4 earnings conference call 11:00 Timbercreek Financial Corp (TF). Q4 earnings conference call 16:30 Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc (XENE). Q4 earnings conference call 17:00 Intrinsyc Technologies Corp (ITC). Q4 earnings conference call 17:00 Linamar Corp (LNR). Q4 earnings conference call EXDIVIDENDS Atco Ltd (ACOx). Amount C$0.38 Canadian National Railway Co (CNR). Amount C$0.46 Enerflex Ltd (EFX). Amount C$0.10 Gildan Activewear Inc (GIL). Amount $0.11 Power Corporation of Canada (POW). Amount C$0.36 SNC-Lavalin Group Inc (SNC). Amount C$0.29 (All analysts' estimates are according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S) 2 MORNING NEWS CALL - CANADIAN EDITION March 7, 2018 PICTURE OF THE DAY Participants fly kites during an international kites festival in Doha, Qatar, March 6. REUTERS/Ibraheem Al Omari (Compiled by Pradip Kakoti and Nayyar Rasheed in Bengaluru) NEWS ACCESS MADE EASY Reuters Top News page displays a range of market and sector-specific subjects To subscribe for The Morning Newscall newsletter click here including: US, Europe and Asian companies, fixed income, credit, the global To un-subscribe for this newsletter click here economy, emerging markets, corporate finance and industry sectors. 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