Straight talking on BNN 
The chase by Marty Cej:

BNN's focus today will be in getting straight answers from straight talkers at some of Canada's most influential and dynamic companies. We'll also throw in a few chats with key policy-setters and a legendary hedge fund manager or two. Myron Scholes, Canadian-born economics whiz who won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1997, came up with the Black-Scholes equation for valuing derivatives and stuff and co-founded Long-Term Capital Management, kicked off our coverage of the Milken 2012 Global Conference this morning at 7:45 a.m. ET.

Bo Lundgren, who oversaw Sweden's bold and successful response to the financial crisis and pummeled Rocky Balboa in their first match, joins Howard Green just after 10:00 a.m. ET to discuss Europe's "muddling through" of its ongoing crisis, monetary policy and how to make austerity work. Pierre Beaudoin, President and CEO of Bombardier, is in California at the conference as well and sits down with us at 1:00 p.m. T. Boone Pickens, founder of BP Capital Management, weighs in on natural gas and U.S. energy policy at 1:15.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan reported earning last week that sent the stock lower. CEO Bill Doyle will tell us what farmers' planting intentions for 2012 will mean for the bottom line at the world's biggest potash producer. "Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon." Gregg Saretsky, CEO of WestJet, will fill us in at 3:10 p.m. on his plans for a new regional airline and his purchase of 20 new Bombardier planes yesterday. Peter Marrone, CEO of Yamana Gold, joins us at 4:30 p.m. to talk about, oh, I don't know, all that glitters?

Barrick, the world's biggest gold company, reported a short time ago, saying first-quarter adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.09, short of the $1.11 average estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters. The company reiterated its production forecast for the full year but said second-quarter production would be lower than the first quarter. Barrick was kind enough to raise its dividend 33 percent to 20 cents a share.

Loblaw Cos. looks to be an important story for us today. The company missed expectations, again, and said full-year profit will decline and the first-half of the year promises to be fraught with "more pressure."

Other earnings we're watching include Devon Energy, Maple Leaf Foods, First Quantum, Time Warner, Beazer Homes, Green Mountain Coffee, Whole Foods, Visa, MasterCard and Comcast.

Along with its earnings this morning, Intact Financial says it has agreed to buy Westaim's Jevco insurance unit for $530-million. That's more than half a billion dollars, FYI.

CP has written another letter to shareholders, exhorting them to vote for its slate of directors, not Pershing Square's. CP has now written more letters than all the characters in Dickens' novels. Dear Mr. Micawber…

WestJet revenue takes off
The chase by Marty Cej:

Happy May Day! U.S. stock index futures are pointing to a mixed start with a host of markets abroad closed for the holiday, including Hong Kong, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Holland, Sweden, Ireland, Switzerland, Russia, Mexico and Brazil. We in North American celebrate International Workers' Day by working, if begrudgingly. Occupy Wall Street protestors are planning protests in New York and elsewhere, if weather permits. Bloomberg reports this morning that the organizers of the protests in New York plan what they call an 8 p.m. "radical after-party" in an undetermined location in the Financial District. Many bank employees are hoping to get home, get changed and get back downtown before the first dj starts spinning.

BNN reports today from the Milkin Institute Conference in Los Angeles where some of the world's top business leaders and economic thinkers are meeting to discuss the issues most affecting countries, economies, industries and markets. Mohamed El-Erian, CEO of PIMCO, sits down with Howard Green just after 10:00 a.m. ET. We'll get some insight into the outlook for the U.S. economy and interest-rate policy from Richard Fisher, head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, at 1 p.m. and talk real estate with David Simon, CEO of the Simon Property Group at 1:10 p.m. Airlines and entrepreneurship are on the agenda at 1:20 p.m. in a conversation with David Neeleman, Founder of JetBlue Airways and Azul Brazilian Airlines.

Investors will turn their attention to earnings for market direction today. In Canada, WestJet will be a mover after the company topped forecasts and decided to buy 20 Bombardier Q400 planes for its planned regional airline. Revenue in the quarter rose 15 percent but the company cautioned that it expects average revenue per available seat mile to "moderate slightly" in the second quarter.

Suncor and Talisman reported this morning and the market will have to decide whether it will pay more attention to cash flow per share or earnings per share. Suncor reported a decline in operating earning that still topped forecasts while cash flow rose modestly. Talisman appears to have missed expectations for earnings from operations even as cash flow rose 5 percent. Decisions decisions.

Two pieces of the TMX bid puzzle fell into place last night as Maple Group said it had reached agreements to buy the Canadian Depository of Securities, or CDS, for $167.5 million, and said it plans to buy Alpha for $175 million. The agreements will help the market put a value on the whole deal -- the TMX, clearing house and Alpha -- and handicap the likelihood of the whole getting done by the new deadline of July 31.

Research In Motion kicks off its 2012 conference in Florida today where it hopes to inspire programmers to build new stuff for its next wave of products. The crowds at this conference have dwindled in recent years. With so much at stake, this year's conference could be a turning point.

Other earnings we are watching this morning and after-hours include Yamana Gold, Cameco, Xstrata, Fairfax Financial, Thomson Reuters, Archer Daniels Midland, Valero, Sirius XM and CBS.

In economics, the U.S. ISM manufacturing data could be the market mover today. A reading of 53 for April is due at 10:00 a.m. ET.