In the Money: 5 Things to Know

Fed day! Disney pops, Uber falls, Barrick beats but costs a concern, Suncor touts records

In this episode of In the Money with Amber Kanwar, renowned investor and author Meb Faber breaks down what most investors get wrong—and what to do instead. Meb dives deep into the three investing pillars he believes will define the next era: global diversification, value investing, and trend following. He explains why most investors are overly concentrated in their home countries and why sticking to U.S. stocks may no longer be the smartest move.

Fed Day: Futures are higher this morning ahead of the Fed’s rate decision this afternoon and announcements by Chinese and US officials that they will be meeting this week after all. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said meetings this week in Switzerland will focus on de-escalation rather than an outright deal. In addition, China cut rates and introduced measures to support the economy. Meanwhile, the meeting between Prime Minister Mark Carney and US President Donald Trump seemed to go fine enough - no progress but no blowups. The Federal Reserve makes its interest rate decision at 2pm ET. They are expected to keep rates on hold for a third meeting in a row despite Trump’s calls for interest rate cuts. “As before, the Fed is biding its time until the Administration’s policy picture is clearer,” wrote BMO economist Michael Gregory. Keep an eye on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals as David Lutz at Jones Trading points out the comment period deadline ends for the national security tariff investigations under Section 232. We are drinking from a firehose of earnings with 34 companies reporting on the TSX today and 26 on the S&P 500. There is a tug of war in tech right now with AMD (+1%) higher after a beat and raise quarter, although there was cautious commentary around China. This is being offset by a slump in Super Micro (-6%) on a weak outlook and Marvell (-9%) after disappointing results and postponement of its investor day given macroeconomic uncertainty.

Happiest place on earth: Disney is up 6% in the pre-market after beating profit expectations and boosting it’s full year outlook on strong performance at its theme parks and better than expected subscriber growth in streaming. Disney is now forecasting profit growth of 16%, which is double what they previously thought. The higher forecast is even more remarkable when you consider all the companies that have either abandoned their forecasts altogether or declined to give one because of macro uncertainty. They also announced expansion plans for their theme parks, building a new park in Abu Dhabi. It certainly looks like a vindication quarter for Bob Iger, CEO of Disney, who came back to the company to put the house of mouse back in order. I’ll be watching for commentary around tariffs on films made outside the US as this recently dented the sector.

Firm lid: Shares of Uber are pulling back 3.5% in the pre-market after total bookings on the platform came in lower than expected and rideshare growth slowed. The stock has been attempting to break out past $85/86 which is proving to be a stubborn lid for the shares. The slowdown in rideshare growth may reflect a broader consumer slowdown, although the CEO assures investors that is not what they are seeing. The company is trying to pin some of it on currency effects, but even when you adjust for currency rideshare growth slowed to 20% from 24% in the prior quarter.

Bling: Shares of Barrick Mining are under slight pressure this morning despite better than expected earnings and strong production. Gold is slipping a bit this morning so that could be weighing on the stock. Record high prices helped to boost profitability and paper over higher costs. Positive gold production was offset by weaker than expected copper production. Overall results are not a clean beat and that is where pressure on the stock could be coming from as well. “Gold production came in 5% higher than our expectation (4% higher sales) but at 2%-9% higher costs than our expectation (and also higher than consensus estimates),” wrote Scotia’s Tanya Jacusconek.

Crude observation: Suncor could get a lift this morning after the oil producer and refiner posted better than expected profit & production and lower than expected spending. Several records were set this quarter including record Q1 production and refining output. This marks the 7th quarter in a row Suncor has beaten expectations (coinciding with turnaround CEO Rich Kruger’s tenure). “Bottom line: Slightly positive,” wrote Michael Barth of Raymond James in a note to clients, “Solid operational momentum continues with both production and refining throughput coming in better than expected. The (adjusted funds from operations) beat, while modest, should also be received positively.” Higher oil prices are likely also helping after a rally yesterday. Oil prices are now higher than they were before OPEC+ announced they would be increasing production.