HEADLINES
Employment Dropped in February, Lifting Jobless Rate to 6.7%
Canada's job market has had a dismal start to the year, with employers shedding jobs two months running to buoy an unemployment rate that had been heading lower.
A net 83,900 jobs were lost last month, the most since the first month of 2009 outside of the height of the global pandemic, Statistics Canada said Friday.
That was much weaker than slight 10,000 gain in employment economists were expecting, and with more people searching for work the jobless rate pushed up 0.2 percentage point to 6.7%.
The weakness brings the drop in employment to almost 109,000 already in 2026, rolling back a large chunk of the surge in hiring last fall when the labor market was showing signs of recovery after the uncertainty faced earlier last year from the shift in U.S. trade policy and introduction of tariffs. It also adds to evidence of a weak backdrop for Canada's economy ahead of the Bank of Canada's monetary policy meeting Wednesday.
Carney Tries to Put Dismal Data in Context Biggest Job Loss in Year Nearly All in Private Sector Weak Canadian Job Data Seen Sidelining Rate Hike Talk
Enghouse Systems Shares Slide on Lower Recurring Revenue, Profit
Enghouse Systems shares fell as the company's recurring revenue base shrunk in its first quarter as weaker license sales put pressure on profit.
The stock settled at C$15.19, down 14.5%.
For the three months ended Jan. 31, The Canadian software company reported a 3.1% decline in revenue to C$120.1 million, missing forecasts of C$124.6 million, according to FactSet.
The decline was largely due to lower recurring revenue, which includes software-as-a-service and maintenance services, which fell by 3.8% to C$84.6 million.
Factory Sales Fell 3% in January
Canadian manufacturing activity began the year on weak footing, with sales in January falling to the lowest level in eight months thanks in part to an extended winter shutdown at several auto plants.
Factory shipments fell 3% from the month before to a seasonally adjusted C$68.67 billion, Statistics Canada said. Compared with a year earlier, sales were down 5.7%.
The weakness in January was slightly softer than the data agency's advance estimate for monthly drop of 3.3%, though manufacturing sales have now fallen in three of the last four months. And the advance seen in December was revised slightly lower to growth of just 0.4%.
AtkinsRealis Gets Green Light for 10% Buyback
AtkinsRealis Group intends to renew its share-repurchase program to buy back about 10% of its common shares over the course of a one-year period.
The Montreal-based engineering- and infrastructure-services company said that the Toronto Stock Exchange approved its plans to launch a normal course issuer bid to buy back up to about 13.6 million shares for cancellation.
Shares fell 0.6% to C$91.70.
AtkinsRealis can begin buying back shares starting on March 17.
Capacity Utilization Rate Falls to 78.5%
Canada's industrial-capacity utilization rate dropped in the fourth quarter, reflecting weaker activity in the construction sector.
Overall, industries in the country operated at 78.5% of their production capacity in the fourth quarter, a 0.4-percentage-point decline from the previous quarter, Statistics Canada said. The data agency noted that the previous quarter's utilization rate was revised upward to 78.9%.
The last time the utilization rate was at or exceeded 80% was in the third quarter of 2023.
TALKING POINT
Carney Joins German, Norwegian Leaders in Upholding Sanctions on Russian Oil
By Paul Waldie of The Globe and Mail
Prime Minister Mark Carney has joined the leaders of Germany and Norway in opposing the move by the United States to ease sanctions on the sale of Russian oil.
On Thursday, the U.S. issued a 30-day waiver allowing countries to buy Russian oil and petroleum products that have been stranded in tankers at sea. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the move was designed to address the soaring price of oil, which has climbed more than 40 per cent since the U.S. and Israel launched air strikes on Iran.
"Canada's position is to maintain sanctions on Russia, including on the shadow fleet which is moving this oil," Mr. Carney said Friday at a joint press conference in Bardufoss, Norway, with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store.
"There has been very tight co-operation between Russia and Iran, at great cost to the people of Ukraine and a great threat to peace and security in Europe," Mr. Carney said.
Mr. Merz said that during a G7 leaders' conference on Wednesday -- involving leaders from Canada, the U.S., Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and France -- all but the U.S. agreed that "we should not release the sanctions against Russia."
Nonetheless, the Chancellor said, "We were a little bit surprised that we heard this morning that the American government decides differently. This is definitely not our view," he added. "We should put more pressure on Russia to bring this terrible war to an end as soon as possible."
Mr. Store agreed: "There should be no pressure on the energy side taken off Russia. It needs to be consistent, and it needs to be felt from the Russian side so that they will come to the negotiation table."
The three leaders met near a military base in Bardufoss, in northern Norway, to watch a NATO exercise called Cold Response. The exercise, first held in 2006, is conducted in the High Arctic every two years and involves 32,000 troops from 14 countries. Canada's contingent consists of a group of Special Operations Forces soldiers.
The leaders watched a brief demonstration by the German Mountain Infantry Brigade involving Leopard tanks, snowmobiles, armored vehicles and drones.
The exercise has taken on renewed significance this year in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's repeated threat to annex Greenland, a semi-autonomous part of Denmark. Mr. Trump has asserted that the U.S. must acquire Greenland for security reasons and fend off challenges in the Arctic from Russia and China.
Canada has joined other NATO countries in insisting that Greenland's future must be decided by the Greenlandic people and Denmark. But NATO has put more emphasis on Arctic security.
"This is an incredibly important exercise for Canada," Mr. Carney said Friday. However, he said the U.S. remains a trusted ally and close partner in North American security.
Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Girouard, the commanding officer for the Canadian Special Operations Regiment, said the exercise offers invaluable training for cold-weather operations. "It allows us to rehearse and build capability in the area of operations that we may be responsible to operate in as a part of our NATO remit," he told reporters.
Throughout the day, Mr. Carney was gently lobbied by Mr. Merz and Mr. Store to select a German bid for 12 submarines Canada intends to buy.
The government is weighing bids for the $40-billion contract from German naval shipbuilder TKMS, and South Korea's Hanwha Group. Norway has purchased the German submarines, and it is backing the TKMS proposal.
Mr. Store stressed the value of NATO allies working together on projects like the submarine contract. "So, when Norway and Germany are integrating on submarines and on tanks, it means also very strong political integration between mature and trusted allies," he told the press conference.
Mr. Merz said he was "very much hoping that we can convince the Canadian partners to do what we want to see."
Mr. Carney said Canada was running "a clear, consistent and transparent" selection process. "We're in the final stages of that and we're blessed by having options, including the German-Norwegian offer."
Mr. Carney flew back to Oslo Friday evening. He will hold meetings with Mr. Store on Saturday and attend a cross-country ski race. On Sunday, he will join the Norwegian Prime Minister and leaders from Iceland, Denmark, Sweden and Finland in a Nordic-Canada Summit in Oslo.
Expected Major Events for Monday
00:01/UK: Mar Rightmove House Price Index
09:30/UK: S&P Global UK Consumer Sentiment Index
09:30/UK: Annual CPI Basket of Goods and Services annual review
11:00/FRA: 4Q OECD Quarterly National Accounts G20 GDP growth
12:15/CAN: Feb Housing Starts
12:30/US: Mar Empire State Manufacturing Survey
12:30/CAN: Dec New motor vehicle sales
12:30/CAN: Feb CPI
13:15/US: Feb Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization
14:00/US: Mar NAHB Housing Market Index
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Expected Earnings for Monday
AEye Inc $(LIDR)$ is expected to report for 4Q.
Agenus Inc $(AGEN)$ is expected to report for 4Q.
Ampco-Pittsburgh Corp (AP) is expected to report for 4Q.
Annexon Inc $(ANNX)$ is expected to report $-0.32 for 4Q.
Bally's Corp $(BALY)$ is expected to report for 4Q.
CervoMed Inc (CRVO) is expected to report $-0.66 for 4Q.
Comtech Telecommunications Corp $(CMTL)$ is expected to report $-0.58 for 2Q.
Contango ORE Inc $(CTGO)$ is expected to report for 4Q.
Cyclerion Therapeutics Inc $(CYCN)$ is expected to report for 4Q.
CytomX Therapeutics Inc (CTMX) is expected to report $-0.09 for 4Q.
DocGo Inc $(DCGO)$ is expected to report $-0.14 for 4Q.
Dollar Tree Inc $(DLTR)$ is expected to report $2.52 for 4Q.
Fennec Pharmaceuticals Inc (FENC,FRX.T) is expected to report $0.06 for 4Q.
Fractyl Health Inc (GUTS) is expected to report $-0.22 for 4Q.
Frontera Energy Corp (FEC.T) is expected to report for 4Q.
Genie Energy Ltd $(GNE)$ is expected to report $0.07 for 4Q.
HF Foods Group Inc (HFFG) is expected to report $0.02 for 4Q.
Harte-Hanks Inc (HHS) is expected to report for 4Q.
Kaltura Inc $(KLTR)$ is expected to report $-0.03 for 4Q.
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March 13, 2026 16:30 ET (20:30 GMT)
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