Here are five things you need to know this morning:

National Bank offers to take over Canadian Western Bank for $5B: There’s a major deal in Canada’s banking industry afoot, as Quebec-based National Bank is proposing to buy Alberta-based Canadian Western Bank (CWB) in a $5 billion all-stock deal. The deal, should it get regulatory and shareholder approval, would see National Bank significantly increase its exposure to Alberta and B.C. and close the large gap between itself and the Big Five banks in front of it. National is offering $52.24 for every share of CWB, a premium of 110 per cent compared to what the shares were trading at before. National has been the best performing bank stock in Canada this year, up 21 per cent and near all-time highs. CWB, meanwhile, has lost value this year and prior to the offer was off by about 40 per cent from its all-time high of roughly $41 a share it hit back in 2021. The deal has major implications in Alberta, where Canadian Western Bank has become a major lender to the province’s energy industry. CWB has about 65,000 employees and 39 branches scattered across Western Canada. We’ll have extensive coverage of the deal throughout the day on BNN Bloomberg.

U.S. inflation cooling: The core U.S. consumer inflation rate continues to show encouraging signs of cooling, as the figure rose 0.2 per cent in May. That’s slightly below the 0.3 per cent forecast. On an annualized basis, the core consumer price index (CPI) rose 3.4 per cent in the year up to May. That’s the slowest pace of increase in three years. The numbers are an encouraging sign that the inflationary dragon has nearly been slayed.

Decision day at the Fed: That soft CPI number comes as all eyes are on the U.S. central bank today as the Federal Reserve is slated to announce its interest rate decision against that inflationary backdrop. While no change to the Fed’s interest rate is expected, markets will dissect the accompanying statement and press conference by chair Jay Powell for clues as to what the future may bring. After the most aggressive cycle of rate hikes on record, central banks around the world, including Canada and the EU, have cautiously begun to cut in recent weeks, but given its outsized influence around the world, the U.S. central bank functionally gets to decide whether it’s a trend or not. Based on GDP numbers, the job market and of course today’s inflation data, the Fed is likely in nowhere near as much of a rush to cut as some other countries are. Which is why pricing in the swaps market implies we may not see a cut until November, and perhaps another one the following month. That’s a far cry from the up to six cuts the market was forecasting for this calendar year just a few months ago.

Dollarama results: We got quarterly results from Canadian discount retailer Dollarama this morning, and while the numbers were mostly strong, there were some signs of slowing. The Montreal-based dollar store chain took in $1.4 billion in revenue during the quarter. That’s an increase of nine per cent and well ahead of the $1 billion the street was forecasting. Earnings came in at 77 cents per share, also ahead of expectations, and same-store sales grew by 5.6 per cent. That’s down from last quarter and slightly below what analysts were hoping to see. The chain said it opened 17 new stores during the quarter, keeping the company on track to open 70 new locations this year. The chain also increased its stake in Latin America-focused Dollarcity by 10 per cent to 60 per cent of the company.

GFL pushed to divest environmental services unit: Activist investor ADW Capital Management is calling on TSX-listed waste management firm GFL Environmental to sell its environmental services division, Bloomberg reports. The New York-based money manager owns 1.65 million shares in GFL, less than one per cent of the float, and says while it would support a total sale of the company, carving off the environmental waste unit would be a good first step. GFL shares jumped 10 per cent on a report the company was mulling offers for the unit earlier this month. The shares have doubled since their 2020 IPO.