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Brookfield affiliate buys American Tower’s India operations in $2.5-billion deal
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American Tower Corp. agreed to sell its operations in India to an affiliate of Brookfield Asset Management, in a deal worth about US$2.5 billion to the United States networking company.
The deal is expected to close in 2024’s second half, American Tower said. The U.S. company struck a deal to sell the business to an infrastructure investment trust backed by an affiliate of Brookfield’s, it said.
The sale lets American Tower focus on its telecommunications tower and data centre businesses in markets such as the U.S. Investment firm Brookfield is betting on growth in India, whose economy is outpacing that of other large countries and where smartphone usage is increasing rapidly.
American Tower started operations in India in 2007 and its portfolio in the country has since expanded to more than 75,000 towers, becoming its largest overseas business, according to its website. The company serves all the nation’s major telecom services providers.
Shares of American Tower are little changed over the past year, giving the company a market value of US$100 billion. Citigroup Inc. and CDX Advisors LLC are the financial advisers to American Tower.
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Edwin Chan, Bloomberg
10 a.m.
Stocks steady after U.S. jobs numbers show strength
Wall Street is holding relatively steady after a report showed a strong job market is still powering the economy, even if it may be a touch too strong.
The S&P 500 was 0.1 per cent higher in early trading but still on track for its first losing week in the last 10. The Dow Jones industrial average was down four points, or less than 0.1 per cent, as of 9:40 a.m. ET, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1 per cent higher.
In Toronto, the S&P/TSX composite was up 0.47 per cent.
The Associated Press
8:30 a.m.
Canadian hiring flat in December, unemployment rate holds at 5.8%
The
number of jobs
in December was virtually unchanged for the month, while the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.8 per cent, Statistics Canada said.
The economy added a total of 100 jobs for the final month of the year.
The result came as the number of full-time jobs fell by 23,500 in December, offset by a gain of 23,600 part-time positions in the month.
The number of jobs in the professional, scientific and technical services sector rose by 45,700 in the month, while the number of jobs in health care and social assistance climbed by 15,500.
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The wholesale and retail trade sector lost 20,600 jobs in December.
Overall employment growth slowed in the second half of 2023, averaging 23,000 per month compared with 48,000 per month in the first six months of the year.
Average hourly wages rose 5.4 per cent on an annual basis.
The unemployment rate edged up to 5.8 per cent in November even as the economy added 25,000 jobs.
The Canadian Press, Financial Post
Read the full story here.
7:30 a.m.
World food prices post biggest annual drop since 2015
Global food prices posted the biggest annual drop since 2015, amid signs that lower wholesale food prices are starting to feed through to supermarket shelves.
An index of food-commodity prices created by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization fell about 10 per cent in 2023, according to data released on Friday.
While the index tracks raw commodity costs rather than retail prices, the steep drop could indicate potential relief on the way for consumers, as food prices ease from a 2022 peak that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and contributed to a cost-of-living crisis in countries across the world.
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Corn and wheat futures prices saw their biggest annual declines in a decade last year, as supply concerns faded. Futures prices for hogs and palm oil also posted big declines.
While the UN’s index is now at the lowest level since February 2021, lower wholesale costs have been taking some time to percolate down to supermarkets and consumers. However, there are signs that food inflation is cooling. The indicator fell sharply in the United Kingdom last month to to the lowest since June 2022, while food, fuel and alcohol price rises have also slowed in New Zealand. In Pakistan, bigger production is likely to help slow food price rises.
The FAO grain index fell more than 16 per cent compared to this time last year, despite increasing slightly last month due to weather-related disruption in shipments from key exporters. In December, falls in the price indexes for sugar, vegetable oils and meat “more than offset increases in dairy products and cereal” according to the organization.
For December, the index of food-commodity prices was 1.5 per cent lower from a month ago.
Áine Quinn, Bloomberg
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Stock markets before the opening bell
Treasuries extended declines, heading for the biggest weekly retreat since October, fuelled by speculation that a resilient labour market may delay interest-rate cuts by the United States Federal Reserve. Stocks sank and the dollar strengthened for a sixth day.
Traders are waiting for the U.S. nonfarm payroll report, which is expected to show that employers added 175,000 positions last month. While that’s a slower hiring pace than November, it would still reflect economic strength and add to evidence that wagers on easier monetary policy have gone too far.
Swaps traders now see around a 65 per cent chance the Fed will cut rates by the Fed’s March meeting, down from almost fully pricing such a move a week ago.
As a result, investors are backtracking on some of last year’s most popular trades. Futures on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index slid 0.4 per cent on Friday and the index has lost more than three per cent so far this week. The yield on 10-year notes is back above four per cent.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 52.77 points at 20,871.35 on Thursday.
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Bloomberg
What to watch today
Jobs numbers for December are out this morning for both Canada and the United States. Also on tap, U.S. factory orders, ISM services PMI and global supply chain pressure index.
Constellation Brands Inc. reports earnings today.
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Additional reporting by The Canadian Press, Associated Press and Bloomberg
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