Noah Zivitz

Managing Editor, BNN Bloomberg

Archive

There's a battle of the titans brewing in Canada's food industry after a bread price-fixing scandal came to light this week. Sobeys CEO Michael Medline has ripped into rival Galen G. Weston over what he calls "reckless" claims. The Globe and Mail obtained the letter Medline sent to Weston yesterday, in which he warns Sobeys will hold its rival responsible for the fallout. 

CANADIAN ECONOMY FLATLINES

Canada’s economy stalled out in October. GDP was unchanged in the month; economists were expecting a 0.2 per cent rise. Big drags were seen in the mining and oil and gas (-1.1 per cent) and utilities (-1.3 per cent) sectors. At the opposite end of the spectrum, there was strength in wholesale trade (+1.4 per cent) and retail (+1.1%). 

BOEING-EMBRAER TALKS

Now what for Bombardier? Boeing and Embraer confirmed yesterday they're in talks for a "potential combination, the basis of which remains under discussion." Earlier yesterday, The Wall Street Journal reported an outright takeover of the Brazilian planemaker is being discussed. The process is somewhat complicated because Boeing would need Brazil's sign-off. Most important consideration for us is what this means for Bombardier, Airbus and their CSeries.

BITCOIN TUMBLES

Bitcoin plunged as much as 20.8 per cent in early trading. At its intraday low, the cryptocurrency was 37 per cent below the all-time high of US$19,511 set just five days ago. Mania? Bubble? Others can opine on that. But between this type of move and investors’ (speculators?) giddy reaction to Long Island Iced Tea’s rabbit-out-of-a-hat move yesterday, there are lots of questions to be asked about investor psychology and regulators’ attempt to keep pace.

BNN’S NEWSMAKER OF THE YEAR

From regulators’ attempt to contain red-hot housing markets, to Sears Canada’s demise, to Canada’s soon-to-be-legal cannabis industry, to Home Capital Group’s brush with the brink (got my vote), and Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s summer/fall to forget … plenty of amazing stories this year. Find out which of them was crowned BNN’s newsmaker of the year in a special presentation at 10:00 a.m. ET. 

OTHER NOTABLE STORIES:

-The TSX closed at another all-time high yesterday (16,182.63), and came within five points of its intraday record (16,200.81).

-A fun one: World Wrestling Entertainment has disclosed Chairman/CEO Vince McMahon sold 3.3 million shares in the company, with proceeds earmarked for "investment opportunities across the sports and entertainment landscapes, including professional football." That's triggering speculation about a possible XFL revival (remember He Hate Me?).  

-As expected, the U.S. Congress is punting the government’s funding problem to another day after approving a stopgap that will avert a partial government shutdown, at least until Jan. 19 when the spending bill expires.

-Alphabet will soon need a new chair as Eric Schmidt plans to step down as executive chairman next month in favour of becoming a technical advisor to the company.

-Agnico-Eagle is buying out Yamana Gold’s stake in the Canadian Malartic Corpration for US$162.5 million.

NOTABLE RELEASES/EVENTS

-Notable data: Canadian GDP, U.S. durable goods orders, U.S. personal income and spending, U.S. new home sales, U.S. consumer sentiment 

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.