Noah Zivitz

Managing Editor, BNN Bloomberg

Archive

Loblaw is hoping to start winning back some goodwill with customers today, as the food giant opens up registration for $25 vouchers to anyone who got burned by a 14-year bread-price fixing scandal.

New details about who's eligible have been posted at loblawcard.ca, and the company is going out of its way to reiterate that anyone who gets a card won't be prevented from participating in a class action or receiving other compensation. But Loblaw is also warning that $25 you get with the card will serve as a deductible on any court-ordered awards.

Jameson Berkow will have more details on the fine print and advance the analysis he got started here.

WEIGH IN

Do you think Loblaw is doing enough to rebuild goodwill after the bread scandal?

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BETTING ON HIGHER RATES

Back-to-back blockbuster jobs reports has Bay Street thinking the Bank of Canada is poised to boost the cost of borrowing in this country. The implied probability of the central bank’s benchmark lending rate going up a quarter of a percentage point next week is sitting just north of 80 per cent. Nevertheless, our audience is telling us that might not be warranted. Friday’s BNN.ca poll asked if Canada’s economy is as strong as the jobs data suggests, and 81 per cent of respondents said no. We’ll explore the argument against raising rates and get some key data later this morning when the bank releases its business outlook survey.

MONTREAL HOUSING MARKET CONTINUES ITS ASCENT

Montreal's housing market just had its best December since 2009. Total home sales rose 10 per cent year-over-year in the month, led higher by a 35 per cent surge in condo sales.

MINIMUM WAGE FALLOUT

Expect to hear more about business owners’ strategies for handling Ontario’s higher minimum wage today, with the province’s labour minister scheduled to hold a news conference this morning. Tim Hortons jacked up the tension with its franchisees on Friday, saying in a statement “team members should never be used to further an agenda or be treated as just an ‘expense’”; and The Globe and Mail reported Tims' management scheduled a mandatory call with franchisees amid some chatter they’re being muzzled.

OTHER NOTABLE STORIES

- Lululemon will be a stock to watch today after it raised its fourth-quarter revenue and profit forecasts. The apparel maker also said it expects to incur a "significant income tax expense" in the quarter as a result of the U.S. tax overhaul.

- The U.S. Commerce Department will reportedly announce its preliminary decision on Canadian newsprint countervailing duties tomorrow.

- Crews are still fighting a fire aboard an Iranian tanker carrying almost a million barrels of oil condensate that collided with a grain ship in the East China Sea late Saturday.- There’s been more frustration for travelers destined for JFK in New York after a water main break yesterday triggered additional delays at the airport.

NOTABLE RELEASES/EVENTS

- 10:30 a.m. ET: Bank of Canada releases business outlook survey.

- 11 a.m. ET: Ontario Labour Minister Kevin Flynn holds news conference at legislative assembly.

- 1 p.m. ET: Ben Bernanke, Lawrence Summers among speakers at Brookings Institution conference on the Federal Reserve's inflation target, includes a panel on "Learning from the Bank of Canada." 

Every morning BNN's Managing Editor Noah Zivitz 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.