Can Canada become an energy superpower again? In this episode of In the Money with Amber Kanwar, Tourmaline CEO Mike Rose breaks down how he built Canada’s largest natural gas producer from scratch and why he believes the country’s energy story is just getting started.
The headline of today’s missive: I sprained my ankle on Saturday. The most devastating part was how mundane the cause of the injury. I was just coming down the stairs and my ankle gave out. So now I hobble around on crutches while my poor husband picks up the slack. It’s a bit of a role reversal, as a man over 40 he’s been hobbled by more ankle/back/knee/toe injuries than I can count. I must confess he is handling me being out commission with a lot more grace than I do when he is. I hope I can remember that for the next time.
Here are five things to know this morning:
Doves fly: Markets were saved from a worse showing after a speech yesterday by Fed Chair Jerome Powell which leaned dovish and solidified bets of a rate cut this month. Gold soared to a record and the TSX finished up more than 1%. Performance in the US was mixed with the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ lower, while the Dow finished higher with the help of Walmart (+4%) surging after announcing a deal with OpenAI to offer shopping on ChatGPT. This morning an investment consortium that includes BlackRock, Nvidia, Microsoft and xAI struck a deal to buy privately-held Aligned Data Centers for $40 billion. Trade tensions are still high, but aren’t derailing markets right now. This morning futures are indicating a higher open as earnings come in better than expected.
Rain makers: Bank of America is soaring 4% after topping profit expectations. Like its peers, investment banking is the star of the show with sales in that division up 43%. Net interest income – the difference between what they pay for deposits and make on loans – grew more than anticipated. CEO Brian Moynihan is touting an upbeat outlook. ” This was a near picture-perfect quarter with solid top line growth, improved efficiency, higher returns, robust capital and strong credit quality,” said TD Cowen’s Steven Alexopolous. Morgan Stanley is also popping 4.5% on an earnings beat and a win over its main competitor/arch rival, Goldman Sachs. Morgan Stanley equity traders had a bigger haul than Goldman’s for the first time in three years. Equity trading surged 35%, far better than the 6% analysts were expecting. The bank also got a boost from dealmaking with investment banking revenue up 44%. “This is a great quarter for MS with beats across the board, and we expect the reaction to be supportive,” wrote Keith Horowitz of Citi.
Money Tree: Dollar Tree is popping 7% after same-store sales beat expectations and it forecast sustained profit growth for the next three years. Earnings per share are now expected to grow in the high teens on the back of cost cutting measures. The dollar store operator in the US ditched its struggling Family Dollar brand earlier this year selling it for $1 billion, far less than the $9 billion it paid for it 10 years ago. The company is in the middle of a big turnaround with most of the executives, including the CEO, in their roles for less than a year. Tariffs remain an uncertainty and the stock has struggled to go back to its highs from a few years ago. Having said that, it has been working as a turnaround play with the stock up 27% so far this year.
Tariff target: Abbott Labs is down 3.5% despite in line quarterly results as the medical equipment maker warns profit could take a hit because of tariffs. Just like with pharmaceuticals, the US is attempting to bring more medical equipment production back to the US and is launching an investigation into the sector. The profit warning isn’t that large with Abbott saying a lot of the manufacturing is already in the US but the stock has had a nice run and the combination of in-line results, disappointing diagnostic equipment sales and tariff warning are all weighing this morning.
Notable calls: RBC is upgrading BCE is to Outperform following the investor day yesterday that laid out fresh financial and strategic targets. It was the first investor day in 10 years. “We believe current levels represent an attractive and timely entry point,” wrote RBC’s Drew McReyonalds, “Reflecting what should be a gradual and sustained re-acceleration in underlying revenue and adjusted EBITDA growth beginning in 2026 driven by both differentiated and diversified growth tailwinds (Ziply, Enterprise, Bell Media) against the backdrop of an improving wireless pricing environment in Canada.” His price target goes up by $2 to $37/share. At the same time, RBC is downgrading Quebecor on valuation. Quebecor has been the best performing in 2025. Nvidia is getting upgraded at HSBC with the analyst touting 80% upside from here. The upgrade is predicated on the expectation that the market for Nvidia’s chips will grow beyond the hyperscalers. Imperial Oil was cut to underperform at CIBC. I don’t have the details but it is the third downgrade to sell in less than a month. Most of them have to do with valuation as Imperial has outperformed crude and the energy index (+42% in 2025 vs +15% for the index).
Don’t miss our next episode!
