I’m currently sandwiched between two kids who have dozed off in the middle of the day and I’m trying to think of it as an early Christmas miracle instead of an early festive season plague.

Here are five things to know this week:

Bank on it: Canadian banks are poised to report fourth-quarter results with the index sitting at record highs. The sector has proved to be Teflon against tariff anxieties and a weaker Canadian economy. But most of the advance in stocks has been based on multiple expansions, not pure earnings growth. “After an exceptionally strong run in the fall, the Canadian banks are trading at levels that could charitably be described as fully valued,” John Aiken of Jefferies wrote in a preview note in which he downgraded TD TD-T and Royal Bank RY-T on valuation concerns. This left Mr. Aiken with no buys on any Canadian banks. He estimates that the bank group is trading 2.3 times above their 20-year average. Of course, high multiples can be resolved in two ways: the stock price comes down or earnings grow. There are three things to watch from the group. First, investors will get a sense of how cautious banks are being for 2026 by looking at how much they take up their provisions for loans that could go bad. Second, banks have been very active on buybacks, and questions will be asked about the appetite for that to continue, or if it will shift toward M&A. Third, capital markets will likely be strong, but watch for how much expenses rise as a result of higher compensation. Bank of Nova Scotia BNS-T reports Tuesday, Royal Bank of Canada and National Bank NA-T report Wednesday. BMO BMO-T, TD and CIBC CM-T are on Thursday. And Laurentian LB-T will report on Friday.

Bringing up the rear: EQB EQB-T will also report this week, but given its underperformance relative to the bank index, it warrants its own discussion. Shares of subprime lenders in general have been under pressure as they deal with a weaker housing market and a slowdown in commercial lending. EQB hasn’t been immune, with impairments and provisions for losses rising. The bank has had the added tumult of a executive change following the sudden death of the now former CEO Andrew Moor. This will be the first full quarter under new CEO Chadwick Westlake and in some ways he has already started to shake things up. The company announced it would be cutting its workforce by 8 per cent in October and those restructuring charges would show up this quarter. “We are not surprised by management’s pivot to cost optimization, given that EQB has seen five consecutive years of negative operating leverage,” wrote National Bank’s Gabriel Dechaine who has a hold rating on the stock. Mr. Westlake may take the opportunity to raise provisions and “materially exceed” those estimates to reflect a more conservative outlook, said Mr. Dechaine. Bay Street does love a turnaround and maybe the old “worst will be first” trade will play out for 2026 (as it did for TD this year.)

May the force be with you: Salesforce CRM-N will report results as the stock languishes around a 1.5 year low. It has dramatically underperformed the NASDAQ, falling 30 per cent so far this year. Analysts aren’t expecting much this quarter with sales growth of just under 9 per cent. Long story short on why the stock has underperformed, the market hasn’t seen any meaningful traction in their AI offering, while sales for their core customer relationship management software has been facing tougher competition. Citi’s Tyler Radke warns that while there is a lot of interest in Agentforce, their AI tool, very few customers are using it. Mr. Radke also notes that web traffic to salesforce.com continues to fall.

Want ads: Canada will report jobs data for November and economists are expecting a slight giveback in job growth after a surprising boom in October. Consensus expects 5,000 jobs were lost compared with 66,600 gained in October. The data may have less relevance after the Bank of Canada effectively said it was done cutting rates for now. But recently, there has been increased focus in the gap between what the Labour Force Survey is showing and what the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours shows. Both are collected by Statistics Canada, but the Labour Force Survey is conducted monthly by asking individuals if they worked this week and the data is extrapolated for a quick and dirty read of the economy. The Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours, meanwhile, uses actual tax data from businesses, but is lagging and only comes out two months after the fact. “If you pay attention to the notoriously volatile Canadian household survey, you could be forgiven for thinking that the local economy is in the midst of a surprising boom,” wrote David Rosenberg of Rosenberg Research. For example, in September the Labour Force Survey showed more than 60,000 jobs were created. But the business survey showed jobs fell by 60,000. “For the first time in nearly five years, the (year-over-year) trend is running completely flat,” Mr. Rosenberg wrote, adding if the business survey is the true snapshot of the economy, then the idea of the Bank of Canada being done cutting rates likely “needs a dose of reassessment.”

U.S. hangover: Typically, we would also be getting U.S. jobs data, but thanks to the hangover from the government shutdown I don’t see that on the calendar this week. The Institute for Supply Management or ISM will release some employment indicators, and we will get the weekly jobless claims. That will likely be it before the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision the following week. The market has dramatically increased the odds of a rate cut at the December meeting following comments from New York Fed President John Williams who suggested the economy was in need of easing. I asked BMO’s Bipan Rai for his views on my podcast this week. “If this was 2018 or 2019, I’d look at the body of evidence and say it’s a no-brainer: the Fed should stay on hold in December,” he said. But the situation needs to be looked at through the current political lens, Mr. Rai noted. “There is now an activist White House … something people in my position have never really had to contend with when forecasting Fed policy.”

In the Money with Amber Kanwar is Canada’s top investing podcast. New episodes out Tuesday and Thursday. Subscribe now at www.inthemoneypod.com