The Daily Chase: Canadian employment growth stalls

Here are five things you need to know this morning:

Canada lost another 2,800 jobs in July: Canada lost jobs in July; the latest sign of a slowing economy that should give the Bank of Canada plenty of leeway to continue to cut rates. Statistics Canada reported this morning that the economy lost 2,800 jobs during the month. For an economy with more than 20 million workers, that’s “little changed” in the parlance of the data agency, even though technically it’s a modest decline and worse than the slight gain of 25,000 jobs that economists had been expecting. Technically the economy added 62,000 full time jobs, but those were more than offset by a loss of more than 64,000 part time jobs. The jobless rate held steady at 6.4 per cent after ticking higher in May and June. The jobs number has mostly moved sideways since April, but overall, Canada’s economy has added 346,000 new jobs in the past year. That’s well short of population growth over that same period, which is why the jobless rate is ticking higher and now sits above the level it was at before the pandemic threw everything out of whack in March 2020.

Cineplex swings to loss in Q2 as ticket sales fell 31%: TSX-listed movie theatre operator Cineplex booked a net loss of $21.4 million in the second quarter. That’s on revenues that fell to $277.3 million from $367.9 million a year ago as theatre attendance fell by almost a third to 8.7 million. Though well short of expectations, the company put a positive spin on the numbers in its earnings release noting that the slowdown was “anticipated” and that the period “was a turning point” with better times ahead, noting that box office tallies for June and July were at 90 per cent of pre-pandemic levels. The company is also putting its money where its mouth is, with a plan to buy back up to 10 per cent of its own shares over the next year because they are undervalued.

Nutrien shares fall to 3-year low on slashed outlook: Shares in TSX-listed fertilizer giant Nutrien are changing hands at their lowest level in three years today, after the company cut its outlook for 2024 profit amid an industry downturn. The company posted mixed earnings results on Wednesday, with profits that fell by 13 per cent compared to last year but nonetheless beat low expectations. The company has been on a rollercoaster ride since the pandemic, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 prompting supply fears and pushing prices up to multi-decade highs. But customers have mostly balked at paying those higher prices, since lower prices for crops have made it not worth their while. The company’s shares are trading at about $64 a piece. That’s well off the $144 they were worth in early 2022, and within striking distance of the $54 they were trading at before the pandemic.

CEO change at Linamar as parts maker posts higher earnings: There’s a leadership change at auto parts manufacturer Linamar. Long-time CEO Linda Hasenfrantz is being bumped upstairs to become executive chair, while COO Jim Jarrell will take on the CEO job. The company announced the change after markets closed yesterday, alongside quarterly earnings that showed profits rising to just over $174 million from $135 million last year. On the revenue side, the tally increased to $2.85 billion from $2.55 billion. We’ll interview Hasenfratz and Jarrell live on The Open this morning to hear a little more about the rationale for the move, and what it means in terms of the company’s strategy.

Algonquin announces plan to sell renewable business for $2.5B: Shares in Algonquin Power will be one to watch on the TSX today as the power utility company revealed quarterly earnings which mostly beat modest expectations, and are likely to be overshadowed by the company’s plan to sell its renewable business to LS Power. That unit was once seen as key to the company’s future, but that was before the rapid rise of interest rates changed the company’s economics, and drew scrutiny on to its debt load. The move to sell the renewable biz will turn the company into a pure play regulated utility, marking a new era for the company.