Safe to say U.S. President Donald Trump’s nomination for Fed chair went over like a lead balloon. Friday’s sell-off on the back of Mr. Trump’s selection of Kevin Warsh sent markets into a tailspin. Gold fell by the most since 1983. Most of the gains for the year on the Toronto Stock Exchange were also wiped out. Social media is joking about whether Polymarket is willing to put odds on when Mr. Trump will replace Mr. Warsh. Is there a prediction market for whether there will be a prediction market about something?
Aside from policy-induced volatility, earnings have remained solid under the hood, and we will get more this week with 129 S&P 500 companies reporting and eight on the TSX.
Here’s what you need to know this week:
Help (not) wanted: Trading on jobs data seems pretty mundane compared with the news flow investors have had to contend with in 2026, but let us remember those simpler times. Canada and the United States both release January jobs figures Friday morning. Canada is expected to add 5,000 jobs. The country’s job growth has surprised everyone with the economy adding 189,000 jobs between September and December, 2025 (more than four times the U.S. numbers, by the way). “Sectors heavily exposed to international trade disruptions, like manufacturing, continue to underperform,” Royal Bank of Canada’s Claire Fan and Nathan Janzen wrote, “but we continue to expect a stabilizing trade backdrop and strength in domestic demand will support a rebound in hiring overall.” In the U.S., 65,000 new jobs are expected. The keyword here is stabilization. “Leading indicators are starting to point to improvement in the labour market after a year of gradual cooling best characterized as a ‘low hire, low fire’ environment,” Ms. Fan and Mr. Janzen wrote.
Tell me something good: Barrick Mining Corp.’s ABX-T quarterly results just got a whole lot more interesting after a historic sell-off in the price of bullion. The gold miner is set to report results Thursday morning. Even without the sell-off, this is one of the more interesting names these days. In the grips of activist investor Elliott Management, the miner has been exploring ways to split off its North American assets into a separately traded company. There could be a hiccup with its Nevada Gold Mines, in which Newmont Corp. NGT-T is a minority owner and, according to reporting from Reuters, has the first right of refusal on those assets. Normally, the focus would be on metrics such as production and operational efficiency, but those are probably lower on the list of concerns this time around. Understanding the timing of the IPO is crucial to the stock, according to TD Cowen analyst Steven Green. His numbers indicate the stock is trading at roughly a 24-per-cent discount to the net asset value potential once the North American assets are unlocked.
From A to Z: Alphabet Inc. GOOGL-Q wears the crown as the best-performing Magnificent Seven stock over the past year. That will be put to the test when results are released Wednesday afternoon. Left for dead a year ago after stumbling out of the gate with its artificial-intelligence offering, it has come back with a vengeance, and if Meta’s results are an indication, the ad market remains robust for AI players. Investors will want to know about how AI usage is progressing at Google with its Gemini 3 release, while YouTube revenue is expected to grow 13 per cent. The Street is prepared for US$119-billion in spending but Bank of America analyst Justin Post says it could come in at US$140-billion for 2026. The bar is also higher for Alphabet than last year, when it was easy to take a swing at because the valuation was much lower. Its price-to-earnings multiple is now above Microsoft’s, Mr. Post writes. “Risk is elevated valuation … and new competitive product launches (LLMs, OpenAI ad ramp) could weigh on relative AI sentiment.”
Time flies: Walt Disney Co. DIS-N is set to report results Monday morning and investors are focused on CEO succession. It seems like just yesterday that Bob Iger returned after a botched succession to try and revive the happiest place on earth. But it wasn’t yesterday, it was three years ago, and Mr. Iger’s contract is up at the end of this year. In his time as CEO, Disney has underperformed the S&P 500 and is up only 25 per cent since 2022. In fact, US$120 a share has been a firm lid on the stock since then. Josh D’Amaro, who runs theme parks for Disney, is widely expected to be named the next successor. The parks have seen steady growth and are Disney’s biggest source of profit. Stabilizing the media business was Mr. Iger’s white whale, and investors are watching for the outcome of Disney’s AI moves. In December, Disney licensed its content to OpenAI’s Sora, becoming the first major studio to do so. “The deal is unlikely to have a significant P&L impact near term,” Bank of America analyst Jessica Ehrlich wrote. “We await to see if this increases engagement with Disney’s iconic IP.”
Clean slate: BCE Inc. BCE-T will have a chance to prove that 2025 was the bottom for the business when it reports quarterly results Thursday morning. Last year the telco was hit with slower growth and balance-sheet constraints, forcing it to cut its dividend. It then surprised investors with an acquisition in the U.S. Investors are expecting a first look at its 2026 forecast, which will include that deal. Lower immigration has hit all telcos: Rogers Communications Inc. RCI-B-T postpaid wireless subscriber growth was 60 per cent lower than the year before. This is expected to weigh on BCE as well, but there are signs the skies are clearing, RBC Capital Markets analyst Drew McReynolds said. “We continue to believe current levels represent an attractive and timely entry point,” he wrote in a preview note to clients, saying a combination of modest profit growth and a better wireless pricing environment are both supportive.
In the Money with Amber Kanwar is Canada’s top investing podcast. New episodes out Tuesday and Thursday. Subscribe now at www.inthemoneypod.com