The Daily Chase: Awaiting U.S. inflation data; West Fraser Timber cuts jobs
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The global investing world is on inflation watch today, with the U.S. consumer price expected to moderate from its highest level in about 20.5 years.
MORE HARDSHIP IN B.C. FORESTRY INDUSTRY
West Fraser Timber announced it is permanently slashing 255 million board feet of production capacity at three mills in British Columbia as a result of what’s described as increasingly challenged access to timber and transportation problems. The curtailments are being achieved by scrapping one shift at each of the mills, resulting in the loss of 147 jobs. TECH DOWNTURN STINGS EQB
The company formerly known as Equitable Group (ie, the branchless bank) reported a 17 per cent plunge in second-quarter net income after markets closed yesterday. The blame can be pinned on non-interest income, which swung into negative territory due to mark-to-market losses on investments that EQB said were made to gain access to “innovative business models and early-stage technologies.” We’ll learn more about that, and the fundamentals of the business (including a surge in reverse mortgage activity, new provisions for credit losses, and adjustments to underwriting practices), when chief executive Andrew Moor joins us at 3:30 p.m. ET. Will also point out EQB is raising its quarterly dividend seven per cent to $0.31 per share.
