Everything You Need to Know on Wednesday: Maple Leaf Foods Swings to Profit in Q3, Plans Spinoff of Pork Business

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

● S&P/TSX 60 Index Standard Futures are trading at 1,499.20, up 0.05% from previous close

● Microsoft and Royal Bank of Canada bet on new approach to carbon cleanup

● Suncor Energy reports increased earnings and production in third quarter

● Maple Leaf Foods swings to profit in Q3, plans spinoff of pork business

Today, the Canadian dollar is trading at 71.74 US cents, a decrease from the previous close.

Microsoft Corp. and Royal Bank of Canada are set to purchase carbon dioxide removal credits from Deep Sky, Canada's pioneering commercial facility dedicated to carbon extraction from the atmosphere. Located in Alberta, Deep Sky will integrate eight direct air capture (DAC) units, optimizing innovation and efficiency.

Deep Sky's CEO, Damien Steel, emphasized the importance of demonstrating the viability of such technologies. Fred Lalonde, co-founder of Deep Sky, is committed to accelerating DAC advancements at the site, described by Microsoft's Brian Marrs as a crucial innovation hub.

Expected to be operational by the end of March, with credit deliveries starting in June, this facility will serve as a pilot to validate the technology. While small, with plans for expansion, this deal represents a strategic part of Microsoft's broader carbon-negative goal and marks RBC's entry into DAC investments.

The Calgary-based oil company noted that per common share earnings rose to $1.59, up from $1.19 in the corresponding quarter last year.

Adjusted operating earnings were $1.88 billion, or $1.48 per common share, a slight decrease from $1.98 billion, or $1.52 per common share, reported last year. The company attributed the decline in adjusted operating earnings primarily to lower realized prices for crude oil and refined products.

Suncor also reported that its upstream production for the quarter reached approximately 828,600 barrels of oil equivalent per day, an increase from about 690,500 barrels per day in the same quarter of the previous year.

Additionally, the company's refinery crude throughput rose to 488,000 barrels per day with refinery utilization reaching 105%, compared to 463,200 barrels per day and 99% utilization in the same quarter of the previous year.

Maple Leaf Foods Inc. reported a third-quarter profit of $17.7 million, marking a significant turnaround from a $4.3 million loss in the same quarter the previous year.

The company announced that the profit translated to 14 cents per share for the quarter ending September 30, compared to a loss of four cents per share a year earlier.

Third-quarter sales reached $1.26 billion, a slight increase from $1.24 billion reported a year ago.

On an adjusted basis, Maple Leaf reported earnings of 18 cents per share for the recent quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 13 cents per share in the corresponding quarter last year.

Maple Leaf is in the process of spinning off its pork division into a new, publicly traded company named Canada Packers Inc. The company revealed that it plans to execute this spinoff through a tax-free "butterfly reorganization."

The completion of this transaction is expected next year. However, the spinoff under this new structure is contingent upon receiving an advance tax ruling from the Canada Revenue Agency and is anticipated to take longer than initially expected.