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Today’s top headlines
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10:29 a.m.
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Air Canada CEO apologizes for accessibility barriers, rolls out new measures
Air Canada chief executive Michael Rousseau is apologizing for the airline’s accessibility shortfalls and rolling out new measures to improve the travel experience for hundreds of thousands of passengers living with a disability.
Rousseau says the carrier is speeding up a three-year accessibility plan after recent reports of passenger mistreatment, including an incident where a man with spastic cerebral palsy was forced to drag himself off of an airplane due to a lack of assistance.
The measures range from establishing a customer accessibility director to consistently boarding passengers who request lift assistance first.
Air Canada also aims to implement annual, recurrent training in accessibility — such as how to use a lift — for its 10,000-odd airport employees and include mobility aids in an app that can track baggage.
David Lepofsky, visiting research professor of disability rights at Western University’s law faculty, says that as a blind person he dreads flying in Canada because of unreliable assistance, despite an overhaul of regulations starting in 2020.
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Statistics Canada found that 63 per cent of the 2.2 million people with disabilities who used federally regulated transportation in 2019 and 2020 faced a barrier.
The Canadian Press
10:00 a.m.
Markets open: Wall Street wanes as traders wait for Fed chair’s comments
The advance in U.S. stocks waned as bond yields rose, with traders unwilling to make big commitments as they awaited remarks from chair Jerome Powell and a raft of United States Federal Reserve speakers.
The S&P 500 was little changed down 0.17 per cent at 4,375.40. If the gauge finished higher, it will notch its longest winning run since November 2004. Treasury 10-year yields climbed five basis points to 4.54 per cent. Thursday’s US$24 billion sale of 30-year bonds will be another test of the market’s ability to accept higher issuance. The U.S. dollar was little changed. Bitcoin hit an 18-month high, topping US$37,000.
Equities rebounded this month as bond yields came off historic highs, with traders betting the steepest tightening cycle in a generation is over and that monetary easing will begin from mid-2024.
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As Powell gets ready to take centre stage during a panel at 2 p.m. Washington time, Wall Street will be focused on any clues about how the recent moves in longer-term Treasuries could impact the outlook for policy.
“Markets are listening to central bankers, but they’re also taking on board recent data and are becoming more confident that further hikes are off the table,” said James Rossiter, head of global macro strategy at TD Securities.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.25 per cent at 34,026.21 while the Nasdaq composite was down 0.08 per cent at 13,640.73.
In Toronto, the S&P/TSX composite index was up 0.84 per cent at 19,694.89.
Bloomberg
9:24 a.m.
Earnings roundup: Cineplex, Quebecor and WSP Global
Cineplex Inc.
Cineplex Inc. reported net income of $29.7 million in its latest quarter as Barbie, Oppenheimer and Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning helped its revenue hit an all-time quarterly record.
The results for the quarter last year included a $49.8-million one-time gain related to the reorganization of its Scene loyalty program.
Revenue for the quarter this year totalled $463.6 million, up from $339.8 million in the same quarter last year.
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The increase came as theatre attendance rose to nearly 15.7 million for the quarter compared with nearly 11.1 million a year earlier.
Quebecor Inc.
Quebecor Inc. reported its third-quarter profit rose compared with a year ago as the acquisition of Freedom Mobile Inc. earlier this year helped boost revenue.
The company reported $209.3 million in net income attributable to shareholders for the quarter ended Sept. 30, up from $178.4 million a year earlier.
Quebecor says the profit amounted to 91 cents per share, up from 76 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
Revenue for the quarter totalled $1.42 billion, up from $1.14 billion a year earlier.
WSP Global Inc.
WSP Global Inc. is reporting its third-quarter profit and revenue both rose by nearly a quarter compared with a year ago, buoyed by organic growth as well as recent acquisitions.
The engineering company says its net earnings attributable to shareholders grew to $156.2 million or $1.25 per share for the three months ended Sept. 30 compared with $127.5 million or $1.05 per share in the same period a year earlier.
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Revenue rose 24 per cent to $3.6 billion in its third quarter from $2.9 billion the year before.
The Canadian Press
7:45 a.m.
Canadian Tire raises dividend, takes $328-million charge on Scotiabank deal
The retailer says it will now pay a quarterly dividend of $1.75 per share, an increase of 2.5 cents per share.
The increased payment to shareholders came as Canadian Tire reported a net loss attributable to shareholders of $66.4 million, or $1.19 per diluted share, for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $184.9 million, or $3.14 per diluted share a year earlier.
The results included a $328-million charge related to the Scotiabank transaction, offset in part by a $131-million insurance recovery related to a fire at a distribution centre in March.
On a normalized basis, Canadian Tire says it earned $2.96 per diluted share in its latest quarter, compared with $3.34 per diluted share a year earlier.
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Revenue was $4.25 billion, up from $4.23 billion in the same quarter last year, while consolidated comparable sales fell 1.6 per cent.
The Canadian Press
7:30 a.m.
Holiday job postings down from last year amid slowing economy
“There’s been an overall cooling of employer hiring appetite over the past year. And it’s pretty similar in seasonal work and other areas of the economy as well, said Indeed senior economist Brendon Bernard.
Overall Canadian job postings are also down 27 per cent from last year, though they’re up 18 per cent from pre-pandemic, Indeed said in a report released Nov. 9.
“Seasonal recruitment started slow in September this year, and while it picked up in October, it wasn’t enough to close the gap,” the hiring site said.
Meanwhile, holiday postings were around the same level as pre-pandemic. As a result, Indeed said holiday postings represent a smaller share of overall postings than they did in 2019.
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The Canadian Press
Before the opening bell: Stock futures steady after 8 days of gains
United States stock futures ticked higher after the S&P 500 notched an eight-day streak of gains. Treasuries fell ahead of more speeches by central bank officials.
While the momentum has fizzled out, the S&P 500 has inched higher this week and if the index closes up for another day, it would mark the longest winning run since 2004.
European markets outperformed, with the Stoxx 600 adding 0.6 per cent on the back of a 32 per cent surge in shares of Adyen NV, a Dutch payments processor that competes with PayPal Holdings Inc.
Elsewhere, oil hovered near a three-month low after plunging almost seven per cent over the previous two sessions. The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose three basis points to 4.52 per cent. Bitcoin rallied to an 18-month high.
In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index closed lower, down 45.38 points to 19,530.21.
Bloomberg
What to watch today
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The Canadian Climate Institute and the Net-Zero Advisory Body co-host their third annual climate conference entitled “Building Momentum Toward Net Zero” in Ottawa. Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson and Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault will speak.
The Canadian Club of Ottawa hosts Marc Parent, chief executive of CAE Inc., for a discussion entitled “Positioning Canada for Global Success.”
The United States will release initial jobless claims for the week of Nov. 4 at 8:30 a.m.
On the earnings front, expect reports from Rogers Communications Inc., Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd., Saputo Inc., Quebecor Inc., News Corp., Sony Corp., AstraZeneca PLC, and Honda Motor Co. Ltd.
Additional reporting by The Canadian Press, Associated Press and Bloomberg
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