Andrew Bell

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“Good God, did we really send men to fight in that?” -- Sir Launcelot Edward Kiggell, Douglas Haig's Chief of Staff, seeing swamp-like conditions at the Third Battle of Ypres in 1917 

Kiggell's driver is said to have assured him that “it gets worse farther on up.”

REMEMBRANCE DAY

Today, Remembrance Day,  we commemorate those who fell in wars on our behalf.

CTV’s coverage begins at 10:30 a.m. ET.  Airing on CTV, CTV Two, CTV News Channel, and live streamed on CTVNews.ca and on the CTV News GO app, the live 90-minute broadcast will be helmed by CTV News chief anchor Lisa LaFlamme from Ottawa.  At 11 a.m. ET, two minutes of silence will commemorate those who have served or are currently serving.

MARKETS ADAPT TO TRUMP VICTORY 

They helped preserve a system in which we choose their leaders. Tune in to BNN all day to track swings in asset prices as global markets adapt to incoming U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

Investors in bank stocks may take comfort from a Wall Street Journal report that the president-elect is being advised on rolling back financial regulation by Paul Atkins, a Republican member of the Securities and Exchange Commission from 2002 to 2008, who “spoke out against big fines for companies, arguing they punish shareholders.”

The WSJ says “Mr. Atkins repeatedly criticized the scope of financial regulation, which he warned often came at the expense of market competition and could lead to unforeseen consequences.” But, interestingly, he has also been quoted as saying that rather than fines, “the best solution is to hold individuals accountable because someone in the company cooked the books.”

Dismantling the Affordable Care Act is a priority for Trump. At 10:10 a.m. ET, we’ll assess the impact on health  insurers with Ana Gupte, analyst at health-care focused investment bank  Leerink Partners.

Analysts note that a replacement for the health law may look rather like the original.

Making assumptions about Trump is perilous. Last night for example, he showed readiness to reach out to critics with a tweet:  “Love the fact that the small groups of protesters last night have passion for our great country.”

The landscape may be utterly changed. One of Trump’s most fervent adversaries, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, still deplores his “campaign that started with racial attacks and then rode the escalator down.  He encouraged a toxic stew of hatred and fear. He attacked millions of Americans.”

But she also notes that Trump “criticized Wall Street and big money’s dominance in Washington… He spoke of the need to reform our trade deals so they aren’t raw deals for the American people. He said he will not cut social security benefits.

He talked about the need to address the rising cost of college and about helping working parents struggling with the high cost of child care.”

The senator says “Republican elites hated him” and that “if Donald Trump is ready to make good on his promise to get corruption out of politics, to end dark money and pay-to-play, count me in.”

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KEYSTONE XL

Trump has indicated that he’ll back the Keystone XL pipeline project, a proposed 1,179-mile  oil pipeline from Hardisty, Alta., to Steele City, Neb., which was stalled by the current administration. On Commodities at 11:15 a.m. ET, we’ll get a reminder on why the oil industry takes this project so seriously when we’re joined by  Dennis McConaghy, a pipeline veteran and former executive vice president at  TransCanada (TRP.TO).

DECEMBER RATE HIKE? 

Bond investors have been rattled by the prospect of inflation if Trump spends massively on infrastructure  and he chainsaws taxes. Long-time bond investor Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser to German insurer Allianz,  thinks the Fed will press ahead with a December interest rate rise.

Higher bond yields tend to push up borrowing costs to buy a home. At 12:20 p.m. ET, we’ll hear from mortgage broker and commentator Robert McLister of RateSpy.com. He says the prospect of a rate jump means “Donald Trump might have just made this month the best time ever to get a five-year fixed mortgage.”

Finally, speaking of new ways of doing things,  the Netherlands has been closing jails as its prison population plummets.

"If somebody has a drug problem we treat their addiction, if they are aggressive we provide anger management, if they have got money problems we give them debt counselling,” the deputy governor of a high-security lockup told the BBC. “So we try to remove whatever it was that caused the crime.

No one ever accused the Dutch of lacking common sense.

Every morning Commodities host Andrew Bell writes a ‘chase note’ to BNN's editorial staff listing the stories and events that will be in the spotlight that day. Have it delivered to your inbox before the trading day begins by heading to www.bnn.ca/subscribe.