Preliminary estimates for January are calling for a 3.3% drop in manufacturing sales, the steepest decline in three years…

… led by weakness in transportation equipment and machinery. That should hit manufacturing GDP when January’s print rolls around, extending the structural challenges weighing on the sector.

Scotiabank (BNS) kicked off big bank earnings with a beat, led by continued outperformance in capital markets (equities & fixed income)…

… which should be a consistent theme for the group, National Bank (NA) in particular - given the outsized trading exposure relative to peers.

It was the first quarter without the bank’s Colombian ops, which helped drive ROE to ~13% - with management confident in hitting its 14% target a year early…

… barring any meaningful macro deterioration, which isn’t out of the question given the tough job and housing market conditions. That backdrop contributed to a continued rise in impaired loans…

… and could keep a lid on valuation, alongside a sluggish growth outlook for its international unit - Mexico in particular.

Flagging Computer Modelling Group (CMG), who’s joining Open Text and Kinaxis as Canadian tech names upping the buyback program…

… to capitalize on a significant impairment in valuation over the past year.

With $24M in cash and virtually no debt, the company has capacity - but shares aren’t likely to have a big positive reaction until growth restarts.

Thomson Reuters (TRI) was up 11% after stating 1M professionals are using its CoCounsel tool, further evidence that the near-term risk of AI to the economics of TRI’s legal business could be overstated.

Should that prove true, the reason lies in the context given to the models - with 85% of all primary law content enhanced by the company’s 1,500 attorney editors…

… which creates a high value, proprietary advantage versus less specialized peers. If the market buys that narrative, there’s a lot of room for a re-rate…

… with shares priced at a ~50% discount to the long-term average valuation on a forward EBITDA basis.

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