The Daily Chase: Rail blockade fallout continues; Canopy rallies as revenue surges

"Ridiculous behaviour.” “What’s going on?” “This is a good case of insanity.” That’s just a sample of what some of Canada’s top corporate executives have said on BNN Bloomberg in the last couple of days amid disbelief that blockades snarling rail traffic have been allowed to drag on. And that was all before CN’s announcement that it had begun an “orderly shutdown” of its network in Eastern Canada, which forced Via Rail to halt service on all but two of its routes across the country. While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has faced calls to cut his overseas travel short and return home to manage the situation, Transport Minister Marc Garneau late yesterday said he is “deeply concerned” by the situation. He will address the topic later this morning in Toronto, and we hope to have that live on BNN Bloomberg.

CANOPY RALLIES

Shares of Canopy Growth are zipping higher in pre-market trading after the pot producer narrowed its fiscal third-quarter loss and reported a 49 per cent surge in net revenue. “We have a lot of work to do,” said recently-appointed CEO David Klein in this morning’s release. We’ll learn more about the work ahead when David George-Cosh sits down with Klein this afternoon. Watch for that interview on BNN Bloomberg and BNNBloomberg.ca

INVEST LIKE WATSA

Fairfax Financial swung to a profit in the fourth quarter and saw its full-year net income soar to more than US$2 billion, with credit going to investment gains (even as short exposure didn’t work in its favour). It also announced long-time exec Paul Rivett is retiring. We’ll keep an ear on CEO Prem Watsa’s comments during a conference call this morning.

CANNTRUST UPDATE

CannTrust Holdings has moved its CFO, Greg Guyatt, into the role of chief executive officer. He replaces Robert Marcovitch, who had been serving on an interim basis and will now focus on his role as chairman and the work of the embattled pot producer’s special committee. CannTrust also said its remediation work is ramping up and it’ll file related paperwork wiith Health Canada today for its Niagara facility and aiming to do the same for its Vaughan facility during the second quarter. All this in a bid to win back Health Canada’s trust after its licenses were suspended last year.

OTHER NOTABLE STORIES

-A rare sight this morning with Agnico Eagle Mines among the top laggards on the TSX after its in line fourth-quarter profit and bumped-up dividend was overshadowed by a cut to its production forecast.

-MTY Food Group is a stock to watch after Canada’s dominant owner of food court brands delayed the release of its quarterly results as a result of “certain allegations made by a purported whistleblower employees.” MTY said it believes those claims are “baseless.”

-Enbridge today again warned of potential cost overruns (above the existing US$9B budget) for its Line 3 replacement project depending on how long it takes for the pipeline to enter service. The company also poster lower fourth-quarter adjusted profit.

-Telus made it clear yesterday his company isn’t waiting around for the federal decision on Huawei’s future in Canada, as the big telco plans to start building its 5G network with the Chinese company’s gear.

-All of a sudden, major music label IPOs are back in style. Vivendi disclosed today it’s planning an initial public offering for its Universal Music Group label. This comes hot on the heels of Warner Music’s recently-announced plan to return to public markets.

-Delta Air Lines today announced a US$1-billion 10-year commitment to finance its pledge to become carbon neutral.

NOTABLE RELEASES/EVENTS

-Notable earnings: Enbridge, Canopy Growth, Beyond Meat

-Notable data: Canadian existing home sales, U.S. retail sales

-8:30 a.m. ET: Fairfax Financial CEO Prem Watsa holds conference call to discuss results

-10:00 a.m. ET: Transport minister Marc Garneau holds media avail in Toronto

-10:00 a.m. ET: Innovation minister Navdeep Bains makes announcement at auto show in Toronto

-12:00 p.m. ET: Justin Trudeau holds media avail in Munich  

-13F filing deadline in U.S. for money managers

Every morning BNN Bloomberg's Managing Editor Noah Zivitz writes a ‘chase note’ to BNN Bloomberg's editorial staff listing the stories and events that will be in the spotlight that day. Have it delivered to your inbox before the trading day begins by heading to www.bnnbloomberg.ca/subscribe.