Hexo to launch low-cost cannabis product to undercut illicit market shops - CBC.ca

Cannabis company Hexo Corp. is moving to undercut prices in the illicit market with a new 28-gram product that costs consumers as much as one dollar less per gram than at the average illegal dispensary.

The product, under the brand Original Stash, which will be on sale in Quebec cannabis stores starting Thursday for $125.70, or $4.49 per gram, including taxes, the company said.

That's cheaper than the average cost of a gram of cannabis at $7.37 per gram during the third quarter, with the price of legal and illegal weed at $10.23 and $5.59 per gram, respectively, according to the latest Statistics Canada analysis of crowdsourced data.

Hexo is targeting the roughly half of Canadians who — one year after the legalization of recreational pot — are still buying weed from the illicit market, its chief executive Sebastien St-Louis said.

"That 51 per cent of Canadians that buys illegally, when they walk into their dealer, they don't pay tax... Hexo is absorbing that cost for them. We've listened, we're removing their reason for not shopping legal," he said in an interview.

He said Hexo is able to offer a one ounce, or 28 gram, product at this relatively low price point for various reasons, such as less packaging needed for the bulk size rather than individual packaging for each gram or 3.5 gram product. St. Louis added that the licensed producer increased its production scale and lower hydroelectric costs in Quebec also allow the company to reduce its price.

Hexo worked with Quebec's provincial cannabis corporation on this pricing strategy and it will be on sale exclusively at its shops starting Thursday. The company is currently working with entities in other provinces, such as Ontario and Alberta, to do a similar low-cost product.

Canada legalized recreational cannabis on Oct. 17 last year, making it the first G7 country and the second country in the world to take that landmark step.

Canadians still buying pot illegally

Once the initial product shortages and supply chain bottlenecks eased, legal cannabis sales in Canada have grown but a large proportion of buyers continue to turn to illegal sources for pot.

In the second quarter, household expenditures on cannabis at licensed retailers was $443 million, up from $172 million in fourth quarter of 2018, according to Statistics Canada. But pot expenditures at unlicensed retailers amounted to $918 million, down from $1.17 billion in the fourth quarter of last year.

When deciding where to buy cannabis, 76 per cent of Canadians who consumed pot in the first half of the year cited quality and safety as an important consideration while 42 per cent mainly considered price, according to Statistics Canada survey results released in August.

Given its discount to legal offerings, Hexo's value brand will likely be on consumer radars, said Douglas Miehm, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets.

"Pricing must also be complemented with a certain level of quality to achieve sell-through," he said in a note to clients. "The latter is unclear at this stage, and thus, we would need more evidence of this before viewing the strategy in a more positive light."

St. Louis said that the cannabis used in its Original Stash products are only low price.

"This is high-quality cannabis flower," he said, noting that it has between 12 and 18 per cent tetrahydrocannabinol, the compound that produces a high.

He added that it is not a loss leader, but would not talk about specific margins until Hexo reports its earnings on Oct. 24.

Potential price war

Miehm said Hexo's low-cost product launch "supports our view that the industry is likely to face pricing pressure as a result of significant oversupply towards the end of the year."

When asked about a potential price war among other large-scale producers, St. Louis said he was not concerned.

"It's not much of a war, if the other side has no chance," he said. "Most of the other licensed producers don't have the cost structure that Hexo does."

The product launch comes after Hexo lowered its net revenues forecast for its upcoming fourth-quarter ended July 31 and it withdrew its $400 million net revenue guidance for its 2020 financial year.

Hexo's aggressive strategy with this value brand was "likely driven by poor sell-through" of its products, said Owen Bennett, an analyst with Jefferies.

He said in a note to clients that the pot producer has had a tough time getting product traction outside of Quebec, and this "looks to be an aggressive move to address limited demand for Hexo and increase market share."

St. Louis said more details on its guidance would be provided during its upcoming earnings, but said the decision to pull back stemmed from the uncertainty facing the cannabis industry.

"We didn't want to be in a situation to commit to specifics in this unsure industry," he said.

He added that Hexo is "very bullish" on Original Stash, and that it will be a key part of its strategy to reach 20-plus per cent market share in the coming years and ramp up its revenues.

Bennett expressed skepticism that Hexo's value brand could drive market share, noting that price-conscious consumers who are buying from the illicit market are less likely to pay more than $125, regardless of price per gram.

"We question how successful it will be given current legal demand is for higher quality and the $125 price is not consistent with illicit purchasing habits," he said in a note. "We do not see this as a precursor to industry-wide price compression, which we see more isolated to low quality and oil."

from Business - Latest - Google News https://ift.tt/2BdS1bM
via IFTTT
October 16, 2019 at 09:17PM

Beef recall expands as Toronto slaughterhouse co-operates with food watchdog - CP24 Toronto's Breaking News

Cassandra Szklarski , The Canadian Press
Published Wednesday, October 16, 2019 12:23PM EDT
Last Updated Wednesday, October 16, 2019 5:25PM EDT

A large recall of raw beef and veal products continued to expand this week with Canada's food watchdog issuing safety warnings about dozens of items sold at restaurants and retail outlets including Walmart and the gourmet food chain Pusateri's.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said its investigation continues into the Toronto-based slaughterhouse Ryding-Regency Meat Packers Ltd., which had its licence suspended Sept. 17 due to possible E. coli O157:H7 contamination.

At the time, the CFIA said the facility "failed to implement effective control measures."

A spokesman for the processing facility described the safety concerns solely as "a deficiency in paperwork" and not a matter of improper food handling.

"As CFIA reviewed the paperwork they noticed some gaps in recording of daily procedures and so in an abundance of caution, the company is voluntarily recalling meat products that have been sent out," Neil Brodie said Wednesday.

"It looks like some of the employees were not fully trained on what to do."

By Tuesday, a series of CFIA recall warnings over the past several weeks grew to involve 665 meat products sold on grocery store shelves, as well as 625 items sent to hotels, restaurants, institutions, manufacturers and retailers -- products that include variable sizes of steaks, roasts, burgers, bones and organ meats.

The latest recall included a Steakhouse Select brand of cracked pepper beef sirloin roast sold at Walmart in Ontario and Alberta; a Fast Fresh Fabulous brand of bacon-wrapped medallions sold at Overwaitea in British Columbia; and more than a dozen products sold at various Pusateri's Fine Foods outlets in the Toronto area.

The agency said more recalls could follow.

Brodie said Ryding-Regency Meat Packers Ltd. ships its products to grocery stores who then break it down into smaller pieces for retail sale. The plant's two facilities remained shuttered, affecting cattle farmers, plant workers and consumers, he said.

"There's 300 employees in the Toronto area who are staying at home not working while this process works its way through," said Brodie, vice president of the Ottawa-based public affairs firm Bluesky Strategy Group.

"Cattle producers are looking to sell their product and meat retailers are looking for product to sell. There's the gap in the ability to process meat in the Canadian market."

The CFIA said there have been no reported illnesses.

Food contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 may not look or smell spoiled but can still cause nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and bloody diarrhea. The CFIA advises consumers to throw out recalled products or return them to the location where they were purchased.

Considering the size of the recall, food safety expert Jennifer Ronholm said it's amazing no one has fallen ill.

"Most of them seem to be things that you cook so that's probably a saving grace here," said Ronholm, noting that most E. coli contamination is on the surface and would be killed off by searing.

Still, she said the infectious dose for E. coli O157:H7 is extremely low and there would be no way to guarantee the infected product doesn't transfer organisms to other kitchen surfaces or foods.

"I wouldn't want E. coli O157:H7 contaminated product in my freezer, fridge, kitchen or oven and I would not recommend that anyone knowingly handle, store, eat, or serve affected meat regardless of how it is cooked," Ronholm, an assistant professor of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at McGill University, added in email.

Ronholm says the E. coli strain involved is the same one that forced the largest beef recall in Canada's history when contaminated beef was linked to the XL Foods plant in Brooks, Alta., in 2012, and the same that crippled the town of Walkerton, Ont., in 2000, when its contaminated water supply sickened more than 2,000 and resulted in six deaths.

Ronholm said addressing contamination fears is a complex and time consuming operation, but this case shows that "the system is working."

"CFIA identified a problem in a plant and instituted a recall before anyone got sick. If you make it through this without anyone getting sick that's a pat on the back for the Canadian system."

List of recalled items online: https://ift.tt/2BiPWvi https://healthycan

This report by The Canadian Press was originally published on Oct. 16, 2019.

from Business - Latest - Google News https://ift.tt/2OPp4ee
via IFTTT
October 17, 2019 at 04:25AM

Air Canada drops 737 Max jets from schedule through mid-February - The Globe and Mail

An Air Canada Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft is shown next to a gate at Trudeau Airport in Montreal on March 13, 2019.

Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press

Air Canada will keep the Boeing 737 Max off its flying schedule until Feb. 14, citing “regulatory uncertainty” nearly a year after authorities across the globe banned the plane from the skies following two fatal crashes in five months.

The country’s biggest airline had earlier scrubbed the 24 jetliners from schedules until Jan. 8. For now, major U.S. carriers hope to welcome the Max back into the fleet in early to mid-January.

The Boeing Co. has said it expects federal authorities to green light software changes to the aircraft, but regulators say they don’t have a set timeline.

Story continues below advertisement

Air Canada’s chief commercial officer said the extension until Valentine’s Day will give Air Canada “scheduling predictability” as it rolls out its new reservation system.

“We are taking this prudent step as a result of the ongoing regulatory uncertainty about the timing of the aircraft returning to service,” Lucie Guillemette said in a release Wednesday.

The airline said it will lease two more wide-body aircraft at least through March Break to help compensate for the absence of the Max planes, which make up about 20 per cent of Air Canada’s narrow-body fleet and would typically carry about 11,000 passengers per day.

WestJet announced in September it was removing the 737 Max from its schedule until Jan. 5.

Sunwing Airlines Inc. said in August that its four Maxes will be absent from the rotation until mid-May, with some 3,000 flights having been affected over the summer alone.

Last month, Air Canada’s chief financial officer said he expected that Transport Canada may not approve the plane for takeoff until early next year.

Michael Rousseau noted his airline doesn’t fly other 737 models, giving it an unenviably “unique” position relative to North American competitors as Air Canada’s Max pilots sit relatively idle while those at rival carriers find more productive deployment in the cockpit of other 737 jets.

Story continues below advertisement

Story continues below advertisement

Air Canada faced a tougher third quarter because of the grounding, forecasting a two per cent decline in capacity from a year ago.

About 26 Max 8s were initially slated for delivery between the March grounding and mid-2020, but have been partly pushed back. The Airbus A320s they were set to replace are less fuel-efficient, piling on more costs.

Air Canada, like WestJet, has also had to lease aircraft and cancel some routes to compensate for the Max 8’s absence.

from Business - Latest - Google News https://ift.tt/33zLbtd
via IFTTT
October 17, 2019 at 02:26AM

Canadian GM workers could be back to work next week if proposed deal ends U.S. strike - The Globe and Mail

The U.S. strike idled output of Chevrolet Impalas and pickup trucks in Oshawa and engine production in St. Catharines. GM sent home about 3,300 hourly employees, and suppliers laid-off 1,400 Unifor members and an untold number of non-union staff.

Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

A proposed deal to end the month-long strike by more than 48,000 General Motors Co. employees in the United States could put thousands of laid-off auto workers in Southern Ontario back on the job as early as next week.

The United Auto Workers, which shut down more than 50 of GM’s U.S. plants and warehouses in a strike that began on Sept. 16, said in a statement on Wednesday that it had reached a “proposed tentative agreement” with GM after five weeks of bargaining.

The UAW’s national leaders will vote Thursday morning on whether the tentative agreement will be sent to members for a ratification vote. The leadership will also decide if the strike should continue until the contract is approved by union members, or if it ends immediately, pending ratification.

Story continues below advertisement

The U.S. strike idled output of Chevrolet Impalas and pickup trucks in Oshawa and engine production in St. Catharines. GM sent home about 3,300 hourly employees, and suppliers laid-off 1,400 Unifor members and an untold number of non-union staff.

General Motors and the United Auto Workers union reached a tentative deal on Wednesday for a new four-year labour deal. Reuters

David Paterson, a spokesman for GM in Canada, said the Detroit-based automaker’s Ontario plants and laid-off employees should be back on the job within days of production resuming in the United States, although it is hard to predict exactly how soon.

Chevrolet Impala output in Oshawa is expected to resume without much delay – possibly next week, he said by phone, given the number of partly complete autos on hand. Production on the St. Catharines V-8- and V-6-engine assembly line could be delayed until the U.S. factories it supplies require new power plants, he said.

Colin James, who represents Unifor union members who work at GM’s Oshawa plant and surrounding employers, said he expects the U.S. autoworkers will hold a ratification vote over the weekend.

“It has to be ratified and approved by their membership first, which I am assuming would happen over the weekend. And then it would take so many days for us to get parts up here,” Mr. James said. “We’re not really telling our members anything yet until we get to see if it’s ratified. Our members all know there’s a possibility of ratification this weekend.”

The UAW, which had been fighting for better wages, benefits and work for idled U.S. plants, provided no details of the agreement. “The No. 1 priority of the national negotiation team has been to secure a strong and fair contract that our members deserve,” said Terry Dittes, UAW vice-president.

GM said on Oct. 11 that it had offered to invest US$9-billion in U.S. plants, along with a contract that included increased compensation through wages and one-time payments, preserved health-care benefits without increasing workers’ costs, enhanced profit sharing with unlimited upside and a higher ratification bonus than the US$8,000 previously offered.

Story continues below advertisement

Story continues below advertisement

General Motors confirmed a proposed agreement was reached but offered no details.

GM’s union-represented workers must approve any labour deal by a simple majority.

If workers ratify the UAW’s tentative deal, union negotiators will then turn full attention to talks at Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, using the GM contract as a template.

This round of talks was far more contentious than in years past, with union leaders lashing out against GM and company bargainers for making details of its contract offers public during negotiations, an unprecedented move intended to appeal directly to workers. At times, the two sides pointed fingers, blaming each other for stalling progress as talks dragged over multiple weeks.

The strike at GM is the culmination of a continuing clash between two institutions vying for a place in a fast-changing industry.

The U.S. walkout – the company’s longest since 1970 – has caused a shortage of parts at dealer repair shops, dented business for auto-parts suppliers and led to temporary layoffs for roughly 10,000 non-UAW factory workers at GM in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Story continues below advertisement

Analysts estimate the strike has eroded GM’s bottom line by roughly US$1.5-billion and is likely to put a major dent in the company’s second-half results. GM is scheduled to report its third-quarter results Oct. 29.

GM is a major customer of Ontario’s three big parts suppliers, Magna International Inc., Martinrea International Inc. and Linamar Corp. Linamar has said the U.S. strike cost it about $1-million a day in lost profit, while the other companies have not provided details on the impact of the stoppage.

With reports from Reuters

from Business - Latest - Google News https://ift.tt/2oEOL6G
via IFTTT
October 17, 2019 at 02:41AM

Posthaste: New immigrants projected to make 680,000 home purchases over next five years - Financial Post

Good Morning!

Canada’ five-year fixed mortgage rates fell around roughly 100 basis points from the turn of the year to recent lows, which analysts believe was behind the rebound in the housing market. Buying activity rose another 0.6 per cent in September to 512,000 units (seasonally-adjusted and annualized) — the highest level in 21 months and 6.6 per cent above the 10-year average.

Royal Bank of Canada senior economist Robert Hogue notes that conditions are ripe for another rally in housing prices after a pause earlier in the year.

“Demand-supply conditions have tightened up, and are gradually heating up prices. Low interest rates, strong labour markets and rapid population growth will continue to fuel demand in the period ahead,” said Hogue in a report. “Promises made during the federal election campaign could heat things up further.”

The influx of immigrants will also see demand for residential units soar. A new report by Royal Le Page out this morning says newcomers — those who arrived in the country within the past 10 years — already represent one in every five home buyers in the country.

“If the current international migration level is maintained, Canadian newcomers are expected to purchase 680,000 homes over the next five years,” Le Page said in a report. In 2018, international migration accounted for 80.5 per cent of Canada’s population growth according to Statistics Canada.

Only 32 per cent of newcomers own a home, compared to the national average of 68 per cent. “Of those who purchase a home, 51 per cent of newcomers buy a detached house, 18 per cent buy a condominium, 15 per cent buy a townhouse and 13 per cent buy a semi-detached house,” according to Le Page.
Here’s what’s you need to know this morning:

• Statistics Canada likely to report annual inflation rate rose to 2.1 per cent in September
• Retail sales data out today
• ATB Financial presents 2020 Economic Outlook with keynote speakers, Todd Hirsch, Chief Economist, ATB Financial, and Pierre Cleroux, Vice President, Research and Chief Economist, BDC in Calgary
• Max Bell Foundation presents The Future of Energy in Canada with Martha Hall Findlay, CEO of Canada West Foundation in Calgary
• Bruce Ralston, B.C. minister of jobs, trade and technology, joins Indigenous economic development leaders for an announcement regarding support for Indigenous businesses in Kamloop, B.C.
• BMO & TMX Hemp & Medical Cannabis Conference, in London, U.K.
• The Federal Reserve will release an updated Beige Book at 2:00 pm ET
• Notable earnings: Kinder Morgan Canada, The A&W Revenue Royalties Income Fund, Netflix, Bank of America, IBM

Justin Trudeau may no longer be the flavour of the month, but he has presided over a strong job market. And that could still tilt the election the Liberals’ way.

Ridings where the NDP fared well in 2015 also seem to enjoy strong labour markets, but Conservative-favouring ridings have seen slower job growth, according to a new report.

“We find that recent labour market strength has been concentrated in certain areas of the 2015 electoral map. In particular, regions where the NDP or Bloc Quebecois were competitive, typically splitting with the Liberals, have seen substantial improvement, mostly in Quebec or B.C,” Indeed Hiring Lab said in a study out last week. “Meanwhile, there’s been more modest progress in areas the Liberals either swept or split with the Conservatives, primarily in Ontario and Atlantic Canada. Finally, the post oil-crash labour market malaise in Alberta and Saskatchewan has had solid Conservative regions lagging.”

The report noted that in August, the average unemployment rate over the previous 12 months in Liberal-NDP/Bloc regions was 2.1 percentage points lower than in December 2015, while other NDP-competitive areas also saw a substantial decline.

“Regions the Liberals swept or split with the Conservatives also made progress, but with declines closer to 1 percentage point. Unemployment was up slightly in Conservative areas,” the report noted.

It must also be pointed out, though, that Conservative-favouring Alberta and Saskatchewan are also going through a lean period mostly due to lower commodity prices, which would have skewed the results.

— Please send your news, comments and stories to yhussain@postmedia.com. — Yadullah Hussain @YAD_FPEnergy

With files from The Canadian Press, Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg

from Business - Latest - Google News https://ift.tt/33C0m57
via IFTTT
October 16, 2019 at 07:34PM

As cannabis vaping set to become legal, public health experts urge strict control - CBC.ca

Some Canadian doctors and public health experts say Canada should hit pause on this week's legalization of cannabis oils given the nearly 1,300 cases of vaping-related lung injury in the U.S. of unknown cause. 

Cannabis vapes are among a series of new products — including edibles, extracts and topicals like lotions — that officially become regulated on Oct. 17, 2019. The earliest these will be for sale legally in Canada is mid-December.

While doctors welcome the idea that the tetrahydrocannabinol or THC content in legalized products will be regulated, they are concerned about the health effects of vaping, which have yet to be well-researched and tested. 

How do e-cigarettes work and what's in the devices?

Electronic cigarettes or e-cigarettes work by heating a liquid to produce an aerosol that users inhale into their lungs, called vaping.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the liquid can contain: nicotine, THC and cannabinoid (CBD) oils, and other substances and additives. THC is the main compound in marijuana that produces the "high."

Although illegal now in Canada and parts of the U.S., cannabis oils for vaping are available online.

How are people falling sick from vaping?

The lung injury associated with the e-cigarette, or vaping, product use is now called EVALI, according to the CDC. More than three-quarters of patients who develop EVALI in the U.S. have said they used THC-containing products, with or without nicotine-containing products. Almost a third said they used THC only.

The first confirmed and probable cases of pulmonary illness related to vaping have been reported in Canada in Quebec and New Brunswick.

No single product or substance has been linked to all cases.

A man puts concentrated oil into a vaporizer cartridge at a cannabis vape lounge in Oakland, Calif., in 2018. About 19 per cent of Canadians who said they used cannabis said they turned to cannabis oil cartridges or vape pens. (Elijah Nouvelage/Reuters)

More information is needed to know whether a single product, substance, brand or method of use is responsible for the outbreak.

What's the uptake of recreational cannabis products?

Canada's Cannabis Act became law on Oct. 17, 2018, legalizing dried cannabis for recreational use.

From May to June 2019, about 4.9 million or 16 per cent of Canadians aged 15 and older reported using cannabis in the previous three months — unchanged from what was reported a year earlier, before legalization, according to Statistics Canada. 

Just over three-quarters (77 per cent) of Canadians who reported using cannabis during the first half of 2019 consumed dried cannabis such as flower/leaf, which is currently legal. Other products used, currently illegal, included: 

• Consumed edibles (consumed by 26 per cent of Canadians who use pot).
• Liquid concentrates (20 per cent of users).
• Cannabis oil cartridges or vape pens (19 per cent of users).
• Hashish or kief (16 per cent of users).

What's the advantage of legalizing cannabis oils?

Canada's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Theresa Tam, said the shift away from illicit cannabis for vaping in Canada is positive from a public health standpoint because at least what's in the products will be known.

"If there should be any issues or safety concerns, it's much easier to investigate products that are already regulated," Tam said on Sept. 20.

A woman uses a electronic vaporizer with cannabidiol (CBD)-rich hemp oil while attending the International Cannabis Association Convention in New York in 2014. People should never modify vaping products or add any substances, health officials say. (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

One of the other anticipated benefits of legalization is an end to "lacing" — mixing in other substances such as nicotine, opioids or stimulants — with the marijuana.

So far the only commonality among all cases in the U.S. and Canada is that patients reported the use of e-cigarette, or vaping, products.

The latest national and state findings in the U.S. suggest people obtained vaping or e-cigarette products containing THC off the street or from other informal sources (e.g. friends, family members, illicit dealers).

"Products obtained from the illegal market are not subject to any controls or oversight and may pose additional risks to your health and safety," Tam and her provincial counterparts said in a statement last week.

"You should never modify vaping products or add any substances to these products that are not intended by the manufacturer."

What's the concern about legalizing cannabis oils?

Public health officials hope that by regulating cannabis, the concentration of THC and other cannibinoids will be known and labelled, and contaminants such as pesticides and thickening agents like vitamin E acetate will be minimized.

Given there's a clear danger of acute lung injury, we really need to understand what's going into vaping and e-cigarette cartridges, said Dr. Samir Gupta. (Craig Chivers/CBC)

But EVALI and its unknown cause or causes add another consideration.

For Dr. Samir Gupta, a respirologist at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, the deaths and severe lung injury that's landed young people in intensive care needing mechanical ventilation to breathe mean "we need to press the pause button" on legalizing cannabis vaping products.

He asks whether Canada is saying "Let's release this, let's make it legal and once we have a spate of cases and maybe some people will die, we'll use that as a way to go back and trace and understand what the problem is? That is just not something that we as Canadians expect from our health regulatory agencies and that's not something the public should accept." 

Canadians need to understand what's going into e-cigarette and vaping cartridges, and their short and long-term health effects before further legalization of cannabis, Gupta said. 

David Hammond is a professor of public health at the University of Waterloo who has studied tobacco and uptake of vaping among Canadian youth. Hammond said as cannabis vapes are legalized, there should be tighter rules, such as limits on THC concentrations.

"Do we just let [cannabis] companies innovate and say 'Whoops we have a problem?'" Hammond said. "That's really the discussion we should be having around legalization. What are the products? How do we regulate them so consumers can have confidence in them and we minimize any risk. Quite frankly we haven't achieved that yet."

Before and after legalization, the consumer advice of "buyer beware" holds, as the government of Canada's database of safety alerts for cannabis continues to show instances of contaminated and inaccurately labelled products legally for sale.

A few legal cannabis producers have found to be "non compliant" by Health Canada for growing without prior approval, lax quality assurance and other issues.

from Business - Latest - Google News https://ift.tt/2oLXt2T
via IFTTT
October 16, 2019 at 03:00PM

Bank of America's stock jumps after profit beats expectations, revenue surprisingly rises - MarketWatch

Shares of Bank of America Corp. BAC, +2.02% rose 1.8% in premarket trading Wednesday, after the bank reported a third-quarter profit that fell less than expected, while revenue surprisingly increased, as consumer and global banking and wealth and investment management revenue increased to offset a slight decline in global markets revenue. Net income fell to $5.78 billion, or 56 cents a share, from $7.17 billion, or 66 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Total revenue rose to $22.81 billion from $22.72 billion, while the FactSet consensus was for a decline to $22.58 billion. Net interest income grew to $12.19 billion from $12.06 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $12.15 billion, and non-interest income slipped to $10.62 billion from $10.66 billion but topped expectations of $10.38 billion. Average loans rose 5% to $9 billion, driven by residential mortgages. Equities revenue grew 13% to $1.1 billion, helped by growth in client financing activities, while fixed income, currency and commodities revenue was flat at $2.1 billion as improvement in mortgages and municipal products was offset by weaker trading in FX and credit products. The stock has gained 2.6% over the past three months through Tuesday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.89% has slipped 1.1%.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/bank-of-americas-stock-jumps-after-profit-beats-expectations-revenue-surprisingly-rises-2019-10-16

2019-10-16 11:05:00Z
52780408809393