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(Morning
News Call - Canada will not be published through the year-end holiday
season, from December 26, 2022 to January 2, 2023. Normal service will
resume from January 3, 2023. Season’s Greetings and Happy
New Year.)
TOP NEWS
• Brookfield gains extra time to seal $12 billion bid for Australia's Origin Energy
Australia's Origin Energy reassured shareholders that Canada's
Brookfield Asset Management, leading an A$18.4 billion takeover offer,
had not found any deal breakers in its books so far.
• BlackBerry warns of economic impact on cybersecurity business
BlackBerry said on Tuesday the sales cycles for its cybersecurity
software have become longer and it expects the current macroeconomic
environment to pose more challenges in the near term.
• Nike beats estimates boosted by discounts, promotions
Nike reported its best quarterly revenue growth in more than a decade
barring one quarter and handily beat profit expectations on Tuesday, as
North American shoppers rushed to stock up on sneakers and sportswear
before the holidays.
• Dealmakers
brace for slow 2023 recovery after global M&A sinks
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity globally fell well short of
the high-water mark set last year as debt financing markets collapsed
and stock market volatility decimated valuations, and dealmakers are
predicting a slow path to recovery in 2023.
• Musk to step down as Twitter CEO once he finds 'someone foolish' enough as successor
Billionaire Elon Musk said on Tuesday he will step down as chief
executive of Twitter once he finds a replacement, but will still run
some key divisions of the social media platform.
BEFORE THE BELL
Futures for Canada's main stock index edged higher ahead of a key domestic inflation reading, while higher oil prices
offered support to the commodity-heavy index. Wall Street futures rose and European shares inched up as upbeat quarterly
results from Nike lifted the market sentiment. Japan’s Nikkei ended lower, a day after the country's central bank shocked markets with a shift in its yield curve control policy. The U.S.
dollar firmed, hurting gold prices.
STOCKS TO WATCH
Resuts
• BlackBerry Ltd:
The company said on Tuesday the sales cycles for its cybersecurity
software have become longer and it expects the current macroeconomic
environment to pose more challenges
in the near term. BlackBerry reported a net loss of $4 million in the
three-month period ended Nov. 30, compared with an income of $74 million
a year earlier. Revenue fell 8.2% to $169 million from $184 million.
Analysts on average had expected revenue of
$168.7 million.
In Other News
• Brookfield Asset Management Ltd:
Australia's Origin Energy reassured shareholders that Canada's
Brookfield Asset Management, leading an A$18.4 billion takeover offer,
had not found any deal
breakers in its books so far. Australia's top energy retailer and no.2
power producer said it had extended its suitors' exclusivity period to
Jan. 16 to give them more time over the end-of-year holiday period to
finalise their offer of A$9.00 a share. "The
Consortium has confirmed that it is on track to complete its due
diligence early in the new year, it has not identified any material
adverse matters to date, and it continues to work on confirming its
Indicative Proposal," Origin said. Brookfield and its bidding
partner MidOcean Energy, backed by private equity firm EIG, were aware
of Origin's statement, a spokesperson for the consortium said, with no
further comment.
• Ivanhoe Mines Ltd:
The Canadian miner has confirmed that it entered in to a deal last year
with a Congolese company owned by Vidiye Tshimanga, a former Democratic
Republic of the Congo presidential
adviser who resigned in September after allegations of corruption. They
are now in arbitration. The confirmation came in a statement published
by Ivanhoe on Monday, which it had sent to Canada's Globe and Mail
newspaper on Dec. 14.
COLUMN
Forecasts
become a vortex of guesswork: Mike Dolan
It's the time of year for financial and economic forecasting - but you
may do as well ignoring them all. An ordinary year assessing the ebb and
flow of the business cycle is often tricky enough. Inherent uncertainty
about the future sees to that - there's no
crystal ball.
ANALYSTS' RECOMMENDATION
• Greenbank Capital Inc: Zephirin
Group initiates coverage with buy rating, expecting the company to
achieve more stability in 2023 and a pending merger with Staminier Ltd
to be a key catalyst.
• Keyera Corp:
CIBC raises target price to C$35 from C$33, following the company’s
acquisition of an additional 21% interest in Keyera Fort Saskatchewan.
• IAMGOLD Corp:
Canaccord Genuity raises target price to C$3.15 from C$3, after the
company announced a transaction to sell its West African assets to
Managem.
ECONOMIC EVENTS (All timings in U.S. Eastern Time)
0830 CPI inflation mm for Nov: Expected 0.0%; Prior 0.7%
0830 CPI inflation yy for Nov: Expected 6.7%; Prior 6.9%
0830 CPI BoC core yy for Nov: Prior 5.8%
0830 CPI BoC core mm for Nov: Prior 0.4%
0830 CPI mm SA for Nov: Prior 0.6%
0830 Core CPI mm SA for Nov: Prior 0.2%
0830 CPI median for Nov: Prior 4.8%
0830 CPI trim for Nov: Prior 5.3%
0830 CPI common for Nov: Prior 6.2%
0830 CPI NSA for Nov: Prior 153.8
0830 CPI yy SA for Nov: Prior 6.95%
CORPORATE EVENTS (All timings in U.S. Eastern Time)
2000 Queen's Road Capital Investment Ltd: Annual Shareholders Meeting
EXDIVIDENDS
BMTC Group Inc: Amount C$0.18
Keyera Corp: Amount C$0.16
Parkland Corp: Amount C$0.32
(All analysts' estimates are according to I/B/E/S Refinitiv data.)
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