Author: train2invest Admins

JP Morgan just forecast $2,000 gold prices by the end of 2023, and $2,175 by the fourth quarter of 2024, as noted by SchiffGold.com. In fact, according to JP Morgan’s executive director of global commodities research, Greg Shearer, “there is even further upside potential for the yellow metal if the US economy falls into a recession. The deeper the recession, the more the Fed will have to cut interest rates, which is more supportive of gold.” That’s all positive news for gold stocks, including Calibre Mining Corp. (TSX:CXB.TO) (OTCQX:CXBMF), Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:GOLD) (TSX:ABX.TO), Newmont Corporation (NYSE:NEM) (TSX:NGT.TO), Franco Nevada Corp. (NYSE:FNV) (TSX:FNV.TO), and Royal Gold Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD).

In addition, “according to the 2023 Central Bank Gold Reserve Survey released by the World Gold Council, 24% of central banks plan to add more gold to their reserves in the next 12 months. Seventy-one percent of central banks surveyed believe the overall level of global reserves will increase in the next 12 months. That was a 10-point increase over last year.”

Telus Corp. (TU) on Friday reported second-quarter profit of $148.9 million.

The Vancouver, British Columbia-based company said it had profit of 10 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, were 14 cents per share.

The results fell short of Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 18 cents per share.

The telecommunications company posted revenue of $3.68 billion in the period, which also fell short of Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $3.72 billion.

George Weston Ltd. (WNGRF) on Tuesday reported profit of $370.8 million in its second quarter.

On a per-share basis, the Toronto-based company said it had net income of $2.64. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring gains, came to $2 per share.

The baked goods maker and parent of the conglomerate Loblaw posted revenue of $10.34 billion in the period.

Magna International Inc. says it recorded a net income of US$339 million in its latest quarter.

The auto parts manufacturer, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says its second-quarter net income compared with a loss of US$156 million a year ago, when it incurred a non-cash impairment charge related to Russian investments.

The results for the period ended June 30 amounted to earnings of US$1.18 per diluted share compared with a loss of 54 cents per diluted share a year before.

Adjusted net income hit US$430 million or $1.50 per diluted share, up from US$243 million or 83 cents per diluted share a year earlier.

Sales were just shy of US$11 billion, up from US$9.3 billion a year ago.

The company attributed the sales boost to higher global production and new programs across its complete vehicles business.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 4, 2023.

Companies in this story: (TSX:MG)

Enbridge Inc. (ENB) on Friday reported second-quarter profit of $1.44 billion.

The Calgary, Alberta-based company said it had net income of 68 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring gains, came to 51 cents per share.

The results met Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was also for earnings of 51 cents per share.

The oil and natural gas transportation and power transmission company posted revenue of $7.77 billion in the period, topping Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $7.49 billion.

Monday August 7

Canadian markets closed (Civic Holiday)

(3 p.m. ET) U.S. consumer credit for June.

Earnings include: Palantir Technologies Inc.

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Tuesday August 8

China’s CPI

(8:30 a.m. ET) Canada’s merchandise trade balance for June.

(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. goods and services trade balance for June.

(10 a.m. ET) U.S. wholesale trade for June. The Street is projecting a decline of 0.3 per cent from May.

Earnings include: Barrick Gold Corp.; CT REIT; Element Fleet Management Corp.; Eli Lilly and Co.; Finning International Inc.; Franco-Nevada Corp.; Great-West Lifeco Inc.; Green Thumb Industries Inc.; HudBay Minerals Inc.; Innergex Renewable Energy Inc.; Pet Valu Holdings Ltd.; Restaurant Brands International Inc.; Sun Life Financial Inc.; Tricon Capital Group Inc.; United Parcel Service Inc.; WSP Global Inc.

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Wednesday August 9

(8:30 a.m. ET) Canadian building permits for June.

Earnings include: CAE Inc.; CCL Industries Inc.; Crombie REIT; Curaleaf Holdings Inc.; Granite REIT; Hydro One Ltd.; Keyera Corp.; Kinaxis Inc.; Linamar Corp.; Manulife Financial Corp.; Metro Inc.; NexGen Energy Ltd.; Nuvei Corp.; Smart REIT; Stantec Inc.; Stella-Jones Inc.; Walt Disney Co.

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Thursday August 10

(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. initial jobless claims for week of Aug 5.

(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. CPI for July. The Street is projecting an increase of 0.2 per cent month-over-month and 3.3 per cent year-over-year.

(2 p.m. ET) U.S. treasury budget for July.

Earnings include: Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp.; Boardwalk REIT; Canada Goose Holdings Inc.; Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd.; Chartwell Retirement Residences; CI Financial Corp.; E-L Financial Corp.; Exchange Income Corp.; Filo Mining Corp.; H&R REIT; Northland Power Inc.; Onex Corp.; Paramount Resources Ltd.; Power Corp. of Canada; Quebecor Inc.; RB Global Inc.; Russel Metals Inc.; Wheaton Precious Metals Corp.

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Friday August 11

UK GDP

(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. PPI for July. The consensus forecast is an increase of 0.2 per cent from June and up 0.7 per cent year-over-year.

(10 a.m. ET) U.S. University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for August (preliminary reading).

Earnings include: Air Canada; Brookfield Renewable Corp.; Constellation Software Inc.; Emera Inc.; Saputo Inc.; Seabridge Gold Inc.; Sprott Inc.

Export Development Canada (EDC) has guaranteed fresh commercial loans of up to $3-billion to the controversial Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project that has suffered repeated cost overruns.

The information disclosed by EDC showed that a new loan guarantee of $2.75-$3-billion was signed in July, though it first appeared on EDC’s website late on Friday.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government bought the Trans Mountain pipeline in 2018 from Kinder Morgan Inc to ensure the expansion project got built and provided a $10-billion loan guarantee to TMC.

It is meant to unlock Asian markets for Canadian oil, which is mostly exported to the United States now. But the project has been hampered by regulatory obstacles, environmental opposition and construction delays, and is now anticipated to cost $30.9-billion, more than quadrupling the $7.4-billion budgeted in 2017.

The cost blowout and the impact of taxpayer has made the government’s ongoing support a contentious issue. Last year, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said that no more public funds would be committed to the project, and TMC has stated that it is looking for external funding.

Critics have also slammed the ownership of a pipeline project by the Liberal government, which they argue runs counter to Trudeau’s ambitious climate goals.

TMC had received an up to $3-billion loan guarantee between late March and early May this year and had received a $10-billion loan guarantee in 2022 from the federal government.

Canada’s finance ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the fresh loan guarantee. In June, a finance ministry spokesperson said the loan guarantee was “common practice” and did not reflect any new public spending.

The project is expected to start shipping oil in the first quarter of 2024, and will nearly tripling the flow of crude from Alberta’s oil sands to Burnaby, British Columbia, to 890,000 barrels per day.

Thomson Reuters Corp. TRI-T +1.74%increase reported higher second-quarter revenue and is sticking to its key financial targets for the year despite a slowing economy that has started to put modest pressure on the pace of sales to corporate clients.

Revenue at the news and information provider was up 2 per cent year-over-year, to US$1.65-billion, for the quarter ended July 31 – roughly in line with analysts’ estimates. After adjusting for the sale of a majority stake in software company Elite to private equity buyer TPG Inc., revenue was up 5 per cent.

The second quarter was busy for Thomson Reuters, as it pushed forward its adoption of generative artificial intelligence tools, striking a partnership with Microsoft Corp. and acquiring Casetext, a legal startup that built an AI-powered assistant for legal professionals, for US$650-million. Thomson Reuters also sold part of its stake in the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) and returned about US$2-billion in proceeds to shareholders.

A tougher economic environment brought about by interest-rate increases to combat inflation has not dented sales and renewals in the company’s largest business lines serving legal, tax and accounting professionals, chief executive officer Steve Hasker said in an interview. Revenue from its legal arm was up 1 per cent to US$705-million, while tax and accounting revenue rose 7 per cent to US$229-million – though, after excluding a drag from divestitures, the units’ revenues were up 6 per cent and 10 per cent respectively.

But sales to some corporate clients, which tend to have more sophisticated procurement departments, and demand for the Reuters Events business both softened a little. Corporate revenue increased 5 per cent to US$392-million.

Because Thomson Reuters gets about 80 per cent of its revenue from multiyear contracts, Mr. Hasker said, “we’re largely but not entirely immune” to the more challenging environment.

“Despite some macroeconomic headwinds, I think we’re pleased with the performance and we view it as a solid quarter,” he added.

Thomson Reuters earned US$894-million, or US$1.90 per share, in the quarter. That compared with a loss of US$115-million, or 24 U.S. cents per share, in the same quarter last year, which was driven by the changing value of the company’s stake in LSEG.

Adjusting to exclude those changing values and the effect of divestitures and other items, the company earned 84 U.S. cents per share in the quarter. That beat analysts’ consensus estimate of 78 U.S. cents per share, according to Refinitiv.

Woodbridge Co. Ltd., the Thomson family holding company and controlling shareholder of Thomson Reuters, also owns The Globe and Mail.

In recent months, Thomson Reuters has been working to show investors that it is on the front foot in adopting generative AI tools that could have a significant effect on legal and financial professions. In addition to acquiring Casetext, which adds 104 employees to Thomson Reuters’s existing AI-focused staff, the company has pledged to spend US$100-million annually on AI capabilities as part of a strategy that will build some of that new technology in-house.

After it acquired Casetext, Scotia Capital analyst Maher Yaghi said the deal “looks like a defensive and an offensive move at the same time,” protecting Thomson Reuters against the disruptive potential of AI tools but also allowing it to improve its own products.

“I view it as more offensive,” Mr. Hasker said. He told analysts on a conference call Wednesday that he has come to understand that companies with proprietary data sets such as Thomson Reuters could have a competitive advantage in making the most of AI models.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd CNQ-T -2.25%decrease on Thursday posted a second-quarter profit that more than halved, as lower energy prices and drop in oil production squeezed the country’s largest oil and gas producer.

Profits for oil and gas companies have declined from last year’s bumper levels after crude prices eased from multi-year highs when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine upended markets.

Benchmark Brent crude averaged $79.92 a barrel in the second quarter, nearly 28 per cent lower than last year, pressured by the banking crisis and fears of a looming recession.

U.S. natural gas prices plunged nearly 63 per cent during the same period, when demand for the commodity skyrocketed against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Canadian Natural’s production in the quarter ended June 30 stood at 1.19 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), below last year’s 1.21 million boepd, impacted by wildfires in Western Canada and continued unplanned third-party pipeline outage, the company said.

The company reported a net income of $1.5-billion, or $1.32 per share, for the quarter, down from $3.5-billion, or $3 per share, a year earlier.

Oil prices settled down 2% on Wednesday despite a historic drop in U.S. crude stocks, as traders derisk following the downgrade of the U.S. government’s top credit by a major ratings agency.

U.S. crude stocks fell in the week by 17 million barrels, the largest drop in U.S. crude inventories according to records dating back to 1982, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. The draw was driven by increased refinery runs and strong crude exports

Despite the record stock draw, U.S. oil prices fell amid falls across financial markets after rating agency Fitch downgraded the U.S. government’s top credit rating.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled down $1.88, or 2.3%, to $79.49 a barrel while Brent crude futures settled down $1.71, or 2%, to $83.20 a barrel.

Both contracts rose by more than $1 earlier on the session, buoyed by falling U.S. stockpiles in Tuesday’s data from the American Petroleum Industry, which also indicated a large U.S. stockpile drawdown.

That the U.S. government has pulled an offer to buy 6 million barrels of oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve also pushed prices lower, traders and analysts said.

Total product supplied – a proxy for demand – also fell by 1.3 million barrels in the week to 20 million barrels per day, the EIA said.

“Gasoline demand seems to have peaked after higher prices at the pump,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst of the Americas at OANDA.

Crude oil inventories have also begun to drop in other regions as demand outpaces supply, which has been constrained by deep production cuts from Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said.

Concerns have risen that oil buying in China, the world’s biggest oil importer, may slow as prices rise.

Weak PMI data released this week, meanwhile, indicated fuel demand may be weaker than expected.

“Chinese crude buying has been opportunistic rather than due to higher demand. (The) market continues to be driven purely by supply constraints, which are always subject to potential political volatility,” said Sparta Commodities’ Philip Jones-Lux.

Analysts expect Saudi Arabia to extend its voluntary oil output cut of 1 million barrels per day for another month to include September in a meeting of producers on Friday.

OPEC+, which groups OPEC and allies led by Russia, is unlikely to revise its current oil output policy when a panel meets on Friday, six OPEC+ sources told Reuters.