Here are four things you need to know this morning
U.S. markets steady: U.S. stock futures held near all-time highs before markets opened today. Chip seller Nvidia edged higher. On Wednesday, its market capitalization briefly topped US$4 trillion, a record for any company. “The market’s sensitivity toward tariffs has diminished,” one strategist told Bloomberg. “The key driver of equity returns for us has been and remains corporate earnings, particularly in the IT sector, and here policy and trade uncertainty have not caused too much damage.”
Crunch time: Ferrero International, the secretive Italian family-owned chocolate company, is close to acquiring cereal producer WK Kellogg for about US$3 billion, Bloomberg says. A takeover would combine the maker of Nutella with the company behind Froot Loops and Frosted Flakes cereals. Now I’d have called that sort of stuff junk but Bloomberg prefers the gentler term “comfort foods.” Shares in Kellogg jumped 50 per cent in premarket trading. The original Kellogg Co. split in two in 2023, with the snacking business rebranded Kellanova and the cereal brands under WK Kellogg.
Seeing red:
U.S. President Donald Trump says Washington will begin levying a 50 per cent tariff on copper imports from Aug. 1, a move that will increase costs for American producers of everything from automobiles to appliances. The Financial Times quotes Ivanhoe Mines founder Robert Friedlandas welcoming the levy, arguing that U.S. domestic production of the red metal is “fundamental to America’s national security.” Of course, he would say that when his Ivanhoe Electric is working on potential mines in Arizona and Utah.
Getting defensive: Investors are on the lookout for stocks that will be winners amid increased defence spending. This morning on The Open, we’ll hear from Kevin Ford, CEO of TSX-listed Calian Group, a supplier of products and services in space communications, manufacturing, health care, cybersecurity and training. Defence in Canada and internationally accounted for about half of the company’s revenue in the past year. That includes health care services, satellite communications and engineering for the Canadian military.
