Here are five things you need to know this morning:
Election eve: Investors are in wait-and-see mode headed into the final hours before the U.S. presidential election scheduled for tomorrow. While the impact of the vote is playing a role in just about every single asset class, one of the prominent ones in focus today is weakness in the U.S. dollar. A batch of polls over the weekend seem to be going in favour of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, including one eyebrow-raising one that has her closing the gap to a tossup in Iowa – a state Trump won in 2016 and 2020. The U.S. dollar has fallen against a basket of global currencies by the biggest amount since late August and is currently trading at its lowest level in two weeks.
Port strikes set to begin in British Columbia: Dockworkers at Canada’s first and third largest ports are scheduled to go on strike as of 11 a.m. eastern time this morning. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union Ship & Dock Foremen Local 514 provided 72-hour advanced notice of a walkout last Thursday. The B.C. Maritime Employers Association said in response it intends to “defensively” lock out all 700 union members, which would shut all cargo operations at the port of Vancouver, and Price Rupert, which together could idle as much as $800 million a day worth of trade.
BCE makes big fibre deal: BCE Inc. has made a major deal to buy a leading broadband internet provider in the U.S. Pacific Northwest for $5 billion. BCE has agreed to buy 100 per cent of the equity of Ziply Fiber, which operates in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. BCE will use the proceeds of its recent sale of MLSE to pay for the majority of deal. BCE also says it will maintain its annual dividend at its current level of $3.99 per share through the end of 2025. The CEO of BCE, Mirko Bibic, will have more to say about the transaction in an interview with BNN Bloomberg at 10 a.m. eastern time this morning. BNN Bloomberg is owned by Bell Media, which is a division of BCE.
Corus hiring bankers to explore sale: Canadian media company Corus Entertainment Inc. is working with Jefferies Financial Group to explore a sale of its business, Bloomberg is reporting. The move comes four months after the company warned that its debt issues raised doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern. The company has a debt load of more than $1 billion against a market cap of barely $20 million as the stock has lost more than 80 per cent of its value over the past year.
Nvidia set to join the Dow: Nvidia will join the Dow Jones Industrial Average as of Friday. It’s a coincidence but it’s hard to ignore the fact that the firm it will be replacing is chip maker Intel, the company it has left in its dust during the current AI-fuelled boom.