Andrew Bell

Anchor, Reporter

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Welcome back to the working week, one and all, and have a great 2017.

It’s a return to regular business on BNN today. Our lineup includes a top auto executive who’s parsing president-elect Donald Trump’s rhetoric on keeping manufacturing in America; an international commodities analyst who says mining stocks are “extraordinarily cheap;” and an oil watcher who has said world crude prices have a shot at hitting US$60 dollars a barrel as early as the second quarter of 2017.

Less than two weeks before Trump's presidential inauguration on Jan. 20, auto manufacturers are engaged in a PR war with the incoming leader on the issue of moving or keeping vehicle production outside the United States.

General Motors CEO (GM.N) Mary Barra says there are no plans to quit building the Chevrolet Cruze hatchback in Mexico, which Trump has criticized. “This is a long-lead business with high capital-intensive investments, decisions that were made two, three and four years ago,” she said.  

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCAU.N)  says it will invest US$1 billion to modernize two plants in the U.S. Midwest.

Ontario’s Finance Minister Charles Sousa told BNN’s Paige Ellis last week that hundreds of thousands of American jobs will be in jeopardy if Trump disrupts auto production. “All the cars produced in Canada have about 25-per cent U.S. content. And we import much more than we export.”  

At 10:30 a.m. ET, we’ll get perspective on preserving Ontario’s auto sector from Joe Hinrichs, President of the Americas at Ford Motor (F.N), who joins us from the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Just before that, at 10:20 a.m. ET, we’ll get a bullish call on mining stocks, even after their run-up late last year. Bernstein analyst Paul Gait says there has been “a drastic breakdown in the relationship between the prevailing commodity price deck and consensus EBITDA estimates,” for mineral producers. He argues that amid the confusion, the sector is trading at a rock bottom 4.4x EBITDA.

Then on Commodities at 11:30 a.m. ET, we’ll be joined in the studio by Amrita Sen, ‎chief oil analyst at Energy Aspects. In late December, she predicted that world oil prices could get to $60 in the second quarter, up from about US$56 now.

However, oil has dropped more than US$1 this morning amid indications that U.S. production is growing. We’ll get Sen’s take on how big a threat U.S. shale is to a price rebound.

And later, at 12:30 p.m. ET, we’ll hear from Victoria Ryce and  Gail Vaz-Oxlade, authors of the “The CEO of Everything,” a book aimed at helping single women tackle financial and life challenges.

A new year often prompts people to consider life changes. And they’ll help us navigate one big alteration: Divorce.