Here are five things you need to know this morning:
Port strike in Montreal is over: The planned three-day idling of two terminals at the port of Montreal is over, and work has restarted at the facilities. Roughly 1,200 checkers and loaders in the Maritime Employers Association walked off the job for 72-hours on Monday, protesting the lack of progress in their talks for a new labour deal. The two terminals that had been shuttered typically process about 40 per cent of the cargo through the port, which is the second busiest in Canada after Vancouver’s. Things are moving again, but it’s an open question as to what the next steps in the impasse might be, as the two sides have not met since the walkout began. The union claims employers refused to attend a sit-down meeting convened by federal mediators scheduled for today.
Enbridge to build 2 new pipelines in Gulf of Mexico: Pipeline giant Enbridge says it is planning to build two new oil and gas pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico to service a new project by British energy giant BP in the region. Enbridge will spend $700 million to build one crude oil and one natural gas pipeline to link up with the Kaskida development. The new pipelines are expected to be in operation by 2029.
Home prices inch lower in GTA: It feels like buyers and sellers in Canada’s biggest real estate market had been waiting for months for rate cuts to give the market some direction, but the first three cuts from the Bank of Canada don’t seem to be nudging up prices so far. The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board reported today that the benchmark selling price slipped 0.5 per cent to $1.079 million in September. That’s the second monthly decline in a row. The number of new listings surged by 9.8 per cent, easily outpacing a 3.3 per cent uptick in the volume of sales. More sellers than buyers is a recipe for lower prices in any business, so it will be interesting to see how long the current mini-trend continues.
Constellation Brands misses on wine and spirits sales: Shares of Constellation Brands are seesawing this morning after the beverage giant reported a fiscal second quarter adjusted profit that beat expectations, even as sales came up a bit shy. The shares were up immediately following the release of the numbers, but soon turned negative. The company trimmed its net sales growth outlook to a range of between four and six per cent for the rest of the year. That’s down from the six to seven per cent range previously forecast.
Bad day for the pound: The British pound is on track for its worst day since 2022 as Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey suggested the central bank could take a more aggressive approach to lowering interest rates. The pound lost more than one per cent against the U.S. dollar and the euro after Bailey told The Guardian newspaper that the bank could be “a bit more activist” in its rate policy. Previously the market had anticipated that the British central bank might lag its peers in the current rate-cutting cycle, so Bailey’s comments are unwinding that trade in a hurry.
