BNN's Daily Chase: Canadian CEOs not keen on Trump

A surge in confidence among Canadian business executives drives our coverage on BNN today. More than 90 per cent of corporate leaders polled in BNN’s quarterly C-Suite Survey expect their firm to post at least moderate growth over the next year.

And only about one-tenth think the Canadian economy will shrink in the coming 12 months months. This time last year, more than half of those surveyed were expecting economic contraction.

The executives don’t sound keen on new U.S. President Donald Trump, with almost half professing a “very negative opinion of him.” But nearly seven in 10 C-suite denizens tracked in the survey - conducted by the Gandalf Group and sponsored by KPMG - think their company will benefit at least somewhat from Washington’s new policies.

Still, concerns over protectionism persist. We touched on that theme this morning with David Herle, principal partner at Gandalf and Willy Kruh, global head of consumer markets at KPMG. At 10:40 a.m. ET, we’ll hear more from them on the positives of the Trump administration seen by Canada’s corporate elite.

C-Suite confidence hits three-year high The 46th quarterly survey of Canada's top executives reveals the C-Suite is optimistic about growth for their company and the economy. But they're still concerned about the fallout from many of the U.S. Trump administration's policies.

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POSTMEDIA UNDER PRESSURE

Speaking of top executives, at 10:10 a.m. ET, we’ll hear from Paul Godfrey, CEO of newspaper publisher PostMedia (PNCa.TO), whose revenue dropped 14 per cent to just under $400 million in its latest six months as print advertising plunged 22 per cent.

Godfrey warned last week that more cost cutting at the company lies ahead.

The company is also parting with a third executive who was part of a group that received sizeable payments to stay with the company. We plan to ask Godfrey to explain how and why managers were paid for loyalty subsequently jumped ship.

BOMBARDIER COMPENSATION 2.0

Payouts to executives continues to be top of mind at Bombardier (BBDb.TO) which is expected to provide detail today on its plan to modify proposed compensation.

The Montreal Gazette says that for a second weekend, demonstrators condemned pay hikes for the executives, branding them “legal theft.”

ACTIVIST TARGETS BHP

And finally, on Commodities at 11 a.m. ET, we’ll assess the demand from an activist investor that resource giant BHP Billiton (BHP.N) untangle its corporate structure, spin off its U.S. energy operations and pay more cash to shareholders.

Elliott Advisors urges restructuring of BHP Billiton Serge Pépin, European equities investment specialist, BMO Global Asset Management talks to BNN about the recommendations Elliott Advisors has made for BHP Billiton. He also discusses his outlook for the French election and why it's important to markets.

Every morning Commodities host Andrew Bell writes a ‘chase note’ to BNN's editorial staff listing the stories and events that will be in the spotlight that day. Have it delivered to your inbox before the trading day begins by heading to www.bnn.ca/subscribe.