Regular readers would not normally turn to me like a source of optimism. Yet, in the middle of the current all-enveloping gloom concerning the world economic outlook, while not exactly optimistic, I’ve found myself nothing beats as pessimistic because the markets appear to be. Why the next recession could be different – and more dangerous Joe Chidley: If these signals ...

After months of wrangling, Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. has reluctantly decided to ask U.S. regulators to weigh in around the first step of its planned takeover of Norfolk Southern Corp. CP’s takeover offer, which NS has repeatedly rejected, proposes putting the Canadian railroad right into a voting trust so that its veteran CEO may take the helm of NS before ...

A defence Canadian oil producers had from the plunging cost of crude is crumbling as hedges expire amid projections that crude continues to say no. Hedges that shielded companies such as Crescent Point Energy Corp. and Whitecap Resources Inc. from the full pain of US$30 oil are winding down this season and then. Nineteen small-to-mid-sized producers have an average of ...

A sweet new day is dawning on Quebec’s maple forests. Producers disgruntled with the province’s existing maple syrup supply-management regime can take heart. The federal government – having helped to create a system that has seen Quebec syrup producers lose substantial global share of the market, exports to the dominant U.S. market stagnate, and their revenue per pound drop below ...

The oilpatch is bracing for additional layoffs, dividend reductions and capex cuts as companies reveal the entire impact of a 14-month decline in oil prices on their own fourth quarter earnings. Cenovus Energy Inc. said Thursday the “hurricane force” impacting the has compelled the oilsands producer to cut its dividend and plan more layoffs this year, while oil services provider ...

The Un may be useless with regards to coping with despots and disease, and not able to control its very own peacekeeping rapists, but the one thing where it can’t fail is posturing about climate. That is because the metrics of success aren’t anything as mundane as temperatures or weather: They are the volume of verbiage and the level of ...

TORONTO – Energy exposure hit the bottom line of Manulife Financial Corp. within the fourth quarter, resulting in the shares to slide by as much as 12 percent in Thursday trading despite a nine per cent hike within the dividend. Quarterly net earnings missed analyst estimates and included a $361 million charge on “investment-related experience” – with the majority of ...

CALGARY – A brand new skyscraper rising over Calgary will be the city’s tallest when construction is complete the coming year, but it’s unlikely to be full. The $1.3-billion building’s largest tenant, oilsands producer Cenovus Energy Inc., confirmed this week it wouldn’t need the quantity of space it had previously agreed to occupy in 2013, when oil prices were comfortably ...