Everything You Need to Know on Monday: Buffett Says Berkshire Looking at an Investment in Canada

Good morning mooers! Here are things you need to know about today's market:

● S&P/TSX 60 Index Standard Futures are trading at 1,327.90, up 0.64%.

● Buffett says Berkshire looking at an investment in Canada

● Analysts suggest TD could suffer a financial setback as a result of a U.S. money laundering investigation

● TC Energy sees natural gas deliveries rise as power demand booms

Today, the Canadian dollar is trading at 73.15 cents US, a slight increase from Friday.

The S&P/TSX 60 Index Standard Futures (SXF) are currently trading at 1,327.90, which is up 0.64% from the previous close.

Warren Buffett said on Saturday that Berkshire Hathaway is looking into an investment in Canada.

"We do not feel uncomfortable in any shape or form putting our money into Canada," he told an arena full of investors Saturday. "In fact, we're actually looking at one thing now."

"There's a lot of countries we don't understand at all,” Buffett said. "So, Canada, it's terrific when you've got a major economy, not the size of the U.S., but a major economy that you feel confident about operating there."

TC Energy Corp. reported unprecedented volumes transported on its natural gas pipelines during the first quarter, driven by the soaring demand for electricity across North America. On Friday, the Calgary-headquartered firm announced that earnings from its natural gas operations across Canada, the U.S., and Mexico reached $2.37 billion in the initial quarter of 2024. This is an increase from the $2.18 billion earned in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

"Natural gas demand growth is continuing in powering the U.S. as electricity demand grows," said CEO François Poirier on a conference call with analysts.

"2023 was a record year for power burn across the U.S. and that strength is continuing into 2024."

As new details surface about the U.S. anti-money-laundering probes involving Toronto-Dominion Bank, analysts from National Bank of Canada suggest that the financial institution could be subject to a significantly larger penalty than initially anticipated, potentially impacting its financial health in the long run.

The U.S. Department of Justice is currently examining the Canadian bank's connection to a money laundering case in New York and New Jersey involving $653 million allegedly linked to drug trafficking, as per a source with knowledge of the situation. This inquiry is in addition to a separate incident where an employee at one of the bank's branches in New Jersey was accused of taking bribes to help launder drug money.

"The allegations against TD lead us to assess more severe 'worst-case’ scenarios than what we previously contemplated," National Bank analysts led by Gabriel Dechaine wrote in a note to clients late Thursday, after the Wall Street Journal first reported Toronto-Dominion's connection to the drug-money-laundering case.