The Daily Chase: Loblaw posts strong quarter; CN Rail cuts 2023 outlook

Here are the five things you need to know this morning.

Here are the five things you need to know this morning:

Market snapshot: It is U.S. Federal Reserve day. The Fed is expected to hike rates to the highest level since 2001. The market is pricing in a 44 per cent chance of another hike after today. In other words, expection is that this is the last hike. The press conference will be important. Today we also get the meeting minutes from the Bank of Canada’s July 12 rate decision where they hiked rates again. We will look for insights into why. We are also in the thick of earnings. On the TSX we have 14 companies reporting including Loblaw, Rogers and CGI Group. Martin Roberge at Canaccord points out that even as earnings are coming in better than expected, net earnings revisions are coming in lower than they have historically. His point is that much of the rally has been fuelled by higher multiples vs higher earning expectations. On the S&P 500 we have 46 companies reporting today including AT&T, Coca Cola and Meta after the bell.

When will AI ramp Microsoft sales?: Microsoft is lower in after hours after reporting slowing growth in its cloud business, while also suggesting AI contribution will be “gradual.”  Cloud growth was still a respectable 27 per cent but slower than the 31 per cent seen the previous quarter, while Microsoft projected a further slowdown in growth.