Yahoo Finance Top headlines: Indigo lays off staff in cost-cutting move
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Top story
Indigo lays off staff as part of strategic plan
Indigo Books & Music Inc. has laid off an unspecified number of staff as part of the retailer’s ongoing efforts to streamline its operations.
Indigo spokeswoman Melissa Perri said in an email to The Canadian Press that the cuts stem from the company’s strategic plan meant to return the business to profitability.
Indigo has seen several quarters of losses and a flurry of executive and board changes over the last year.
Most recently, the company reported a net loss of $22.4 million in its second quarter, a period when founder and chief executive Heather Reisman retired and turned the business over to Peter Ruis.
Ruis left the company abruptly in September, making way for Reisman to return.
Last year, the company also grappled with a February cyberattack that took down Indigo’s website and saw four of its 10 directors leave its board, with one attributing her resignation to mistreatment.
“While it is a difficult decision to part ways with valued and talented employees, it is the right decision for our company and all those we serve,” Perri said in an email confirming this week’s layoffs.
The Canadian Press
More: Indigo workers at unionized stores facing increased battles with retailer, union says
4:52 p.m.
Market close: TSX rises as U.S. markets mixed on inflation data, bank earnings
Canada’s main stock index posted a small gain Friday, while U.S. markets were mixed following a report on wholesale inflation and the start to fourth-quarter earnings season.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 71.82 points at 20,990.22.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 118.04 points at 37,592.98. The S&P 500 index was up 3.59 points at 4,783.83, while the Nasdaq composite was up 2.58 points at 14,972.76.
The Canadian dollar traded for 74.70 cents U.S. compared with 74.58 cents U.S. on Thursday.
The February crude oil contract was up 66 cents at US$72.68 per barrel and the February natural gas contract was up 22 cents at US$3.31 per mmBTU.
The February gold contract was up US$32.40 at US$2,051.60 an ounce and the March copper contract was down four cents at US$3.74 a pound.
The Canadian Press
1:33 p.m.
Korean battery maker Samsung SDI investing in Canada Nickel
Canada Nickel Co. Inc. says Korean company Samsung SDI Co. Ltd. has agreed to invest US$18.5 million in the company for an 8.7 per cent stake.
Samsung SDI makes rechargeable batteries for the technology industry, automobiles, and energy storage systems.
Canada Nickel chief executive Mark Selby says it’s critical to form long-term partnerships with companies that understand how crucial its production will be for electric vehicle supply chains across North America and Europe .
Canada Nickel says it will also grant Samsung SDI the right to buy a 10 per cent stake in its Crawford project located north of Timmins, Ont., for US$100.5 million, exercisable upon a final construction decision.
By exercising the right, Samsung SDI will have a right to 10 per cent of the nickel-cobalt production from the project over the life of mine and a right to an additional 20 per cent for 15 years extendable by mutual agreement.
The investment by Samsung SDI follows an investment by gold miner Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd., which acquired a 12 per cent stake in Canada Nickel.
The Canadian Press
12:18 p.m.
Midday markets: TSX higher in late-morning trading, U.S. stock markets mixed
Strength in the energy, technology and telecommunications stocks helped lift Canada’s main stock index higher in late-morning trading, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 73.39 points at 20,991.79.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 187.29 points at 37,523.73. The S&P 500 index was down 0.84 points at 4,779.40, while the Nasdaq composite was up 12.31 points at 14,982.50.
The Canadian dollar traded for 74.70 cents U.S. compared with 74.58 cents U.S. on Thursday.
The February crude oil contract was up US$1.35 at US$73.37 per barrel and the February natural gas contract was up 17 cents at US$3.27 per mmBTU.
The February gold contract was up US$37.60 at US$2,056.80 an ounce and the March copper contract was down a penny at US$3.77 a pound.
The Canadian Press
11:03 a.m.
JPMorgan sets record for most-profitable year in U.S. banking history
JPMorgan Chase & Co. closed out the most profitable year in U.S. banking history with its seventh consecutive quarter of record net interest income.
“Our record results in 2023 reflect over-earning on both NII (net interest income) and credit, but we remain confident in our ability to continue to deliver very healthy returns even after they normalize,” chief executive Jamie Dimon said in a statement.
JPMorgan and its largest peers — Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. — all reported results Friday, offering a look at how the United States economy held up in the last three months of the year.
Investors are keen for details on what executives are expecting for the year ahead as they reckon with the United States Federal Reserve’s policy pivot from two years of boosting interest rates.
On an earnings call, JPMorgan chief financial officer Jeremy Barnum warned that the bank expects the quarterly figures to decrease throughout the year.
Net interest income, meanwhile, could also fall as much as nine per cent this year, Wells Fargo said. Analysts had been expecting a six per cent decline.
Citigroup said it will eliminate 20,000 roles in a move that will save it as much as $2.5 billion as part of chief executive Jane Fraser’s quest to boost the Wall Street giant’s lagging returns.
Bloomberg
10:22 a.m.
Markets open: Wall Street mixed, TSX up with energy stocks leading the way
U.S. stocks were mixed as oil prices jumped in a busy Friday with plenty of cross currents sweeping Wall Street.
The S&P 500 was up 0.12 per cent in early trading and on track to surpass a record it set two years ago, as earnings season kicked off with a mixed set of results from Delta Air Lines Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.4 per cent, as of 10:22 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite seesawed between a slim gain and loss.
In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index was up 0.54 per cent with energy stocks leading the way rising 1.52 per cent.
Some of the strongest action was in the oil market, where crude prices rose on worries about potential disruptions to supplies. A barrel of benchmark U.S. oil gained 3.5 per cent to US$74.56 after Yemen’s Houthi rebels vowed fierce retaliation for United States and United Kingdom strikes against them. Brent crude, the international standard, rose three per cent to US$79.77 and likewise clawed back sharp losses from earlier in the week.
The Associated Press
9:52 a.m.
Gildan board advances start date of CEO replacing ousted Chamandy
Gildan Activewear Inc. says Vince Tyra will begin work as the company’s chief executive on Monday, four weeks ahead of his planned start date, as the fight over who should lead the company continues.
The company says Tyra, who was named late last year to replace co-founder Glenn Chamandy as chief executive, agreed to the earlier start after a request by Gildan’s board to help bring stability and to respond to requests by key stakeholders.
Several Gildan shareholders, including the company’s largest, Jarislowsky Fraser, have sought to have Chamandy reinstated.
U.S. investment firm Browning West is seeking a special meeting of shareholders to replace eight members of the Gildan board in a move to bring Chamandy back.
The Gildan board has said it replaced Chamandy because he had no credible long-term strategy for the company and had lost the board’s trust and confidence in his ability to grow an increasingly complex organization.
In response, Chamandy has said he presented a comprehensive long-range plan in October that showed meaningful organic growth prospects for Gildan over the next five years.
The Canadian Press
7:30 a.m.
Stock markets before the opening bell
Moves in markets were muted at the end of a volatile week that featured unexpectedly fast inflation data and rising geopolitical tensions.
Contracts on the S&P 500 index slipped 0.1 per cent with the gauge poised to end the week up about two per cent. Treasuries and the dollar were little changed, and the Cboe Volatility Index held near a four-year low.
The standout was oil, with West Texas Intermediate crude surging four per cent following the launch of joint military strikes by the United States and its allies against Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The threat of a wider war in the Mideast and new hotspots of political turmoil in Ecuador and Poland are complicating an otherwise bullish outlook for markets in 2024.
Expectations that officials are done hiking and will ease policy in 2024 — even if that happens a little later than markets are pricing — remain in place after faster-than-expected U.S. inflation data on Thursday. The European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde said once the bank’s two per cent inflation goal comes into view she’s “very confident, then rates will start to decline.”
The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 71.02 points at 20,918.40 on Thursday.
Bloomberg
What to watch today
A slew of big Wall Street financial firms are reporting earnings today, including JP Morgan Chase & Co., Blackrock Inc., Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., Wells Fargo & Co. and Bank of New York Mellon. Also expect earnings reports from Delta Air Lines Inc. and Corus Entertainment Inc.
The U.S. producer price index for December is out this morning.
Prospect of Bank of Canada rate cuts boosting views on economy
Buying your first home? These are the top 3 tax strategies to use
Need a refresher on yesterday’s top headlines? Get caught up here.
Additional reporting by The Canadian Press, Associated Press and Bloomberg
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