Analysts extend profit slump another quarter as S&P 500 meanders + MORE Aug 8th

JACKSON, Miss. – Electric car maker GreenTech Automotive, which once planned to build 250,000 cars a year and invest $2 billion in an impoverished corner of Mississippi’s Delta region, has missed a debt payment to the state of Mississippi.
Mississippi Development Authority spokesman Jeff Rent confirmed Monday that the Tunica County company didn’t pay $150,000 due June 30. That was the first payment on a $3 million state loan.
“The Mississippi Development Authority continues to work with GreenTech Automotive as the company secures additional funding,” Rent wrote in an email. “This is the best course of action to protect the state’s investment and to keep Mississippians working at the plant.”
Previously, GreenTech has raised money from Chinese people who can obtain permanent U.S. residency by investing $500,000 and creating 10 jobs. However, GreenTech may have fallen out of favour with green card granting authorities.
The Roanoke Times reported in May that a U…

CALGARY – Calgary-based Inter Pipeline Ltd. says it will spend $1.35 billion to buy the Canadian oil and gas assets of the Williams pipeline companies.
Williams’ infrastructure in Alberta include two plants near Fort McMurray that extract natural gas liquids, a gas processing plant near Redwater, and a 420-kilometre pipeline system connecting the two.
Oklahoma-based Williams says it spent about $2.5 billion on the development of its Canadian business over 16 years.
In the deal, Calgary-based Inter Pipeline (TSX:IPL) will also acquire a proposed $1.85-billion facility near Redwater that is designed to turn propane into propylene pellets used in plastics manufacturing.
The company says it expects the facility will qualify under the Alberta government’s petrochemical diversification program that offers up to $500 million in royalty credits for value-added projects.
Inter Pipeline says it plans to make a decision by the end of the year on whether to go ahead with the facility, which Williams has already spent $250 million developing…

Sandstorm Gold, a royalty company that has fewer risks than traditional miners, is a cheaper alternative to Franco-Nevada

(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
OTTAWA – The federal government has weighed the pros and cons of a financial deterrent aimed at shrinking bulging waistlines: a tax on soda pop.
Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s office requested an internal analysis last winter to explore the “issues and impacts in respect of a potential tax on soft drinks.”
The information was contained in a Jan. 29 briefing note prepared for Morneau as he drew up the Liberal government’s maiden budget, which was tabled in March.
“A number of health organizations have called on the government to implement taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), as a strategy to address obesity,” reads the memo signed by deputy finance minister Paul Rochon.
The partially redacted, “secret” briefing was obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.
As an example, the document pointed to a pre-budget recommendation made by the Heart and Stroke Foundation, which urged Ottawa to impose a tax of five cents per 100 millilitres on sugar-sweetened beverages…

The situation is preferable to an earnings contraction, but investors are left wanting more, an analyst said