The unemployment rate improved to 6.9% in October, beating estimates for a flat 7.1% reading…

… thanks to 85K part-time adds, almost entirely offsetting category weakness in the prior two months and carrying a ~20K decline in full-time jobs.

Results were mixed at the industry level, with weakness in construction more than offset by strength in retail trade, transportation, and manufacturing…

… which we highlighted as likely following the Ivey PMI print. A manufacturing recovery likely contributed to the second up month in workforce participation…

… which helped reduce the share of long-term unemployment to ~21%, still elevated - but improving from previous highs.

While there’s still a long way to go given the limited number of open jobs, the last two prints have shown improvement… a few more could bring back confidence in the labour market.

TMX Group (X) released October’s trading stats on Friday, which grew nearly 60% Y/Y and over 25% on a YTD basis.

As evidenced by the outsized contribution from the venture exchange…

… the recent strength has been driven by mining, with soaring precious metals prices leaving the financing window wide open.

With only a few key themes driving liquidity, such strong Y/Y performance is unlikely to hold for too long.

Altus Group (AIF) slid 12% on its Q3 results, which missed small on revenue, big on earnings, and came with the second straight downward guidance revision - now calling for 2-4% growth in the analytics segment…

… and a mid single digit decline in the appraisals segment, driven by softness in commercial real estate activity.

The slower top line growth should hit margins, which management still expects to expand Y/Y but to a lesser degree.

Guidance wasn’t the only negative, with the CEO resigning abruptly and the strategic review ending with no viable bids. A bit of a “kitchen sink” quarter for Altus and with the stock trading at a small discount to its historical average…

… investors won’t be rushing in to buy this on valuation. Until the market is confident there’s no more skeletons in the closet, AIF could be range bound.

Algonquin Power (AQN) ran another 8% on its Q3 print, which delivered $0.09 of EPS - expanding Y/Y and sitting well above estimates of $0.06. The results are another data point on the post-renewables business…

… giving the market confidence in the turnaround we highlighted in February and in AQN’s ability to meet or beat its previous full-year guide.

From here the company looks to prove it can become a premium regulated utility, with the addition of Robert Stefani from Southwest Gas as CFO and focus turning towards optimizing its existing footprint.

Management’s ability to do so will dictate the next leg higher, with AQN trading back in-line with its historical average and the utility peer group.

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