HEADLINES
Unemployment Rate Slipped to 6.5% in June
Canada's unemployment rate edged down to a six-month low in June, thanks to a stronger summer job market and a pickup in job finding.
Employers in the country added 18,200 jobs last month, Statistics Canada said. That built on the strong 87,800 rise in employment in May and continued to roll back the sharp drop in job numbers early in 2026.
Continued hiring alongside a steady labor market participation rate helped push the jobless rate down to 6.5%, matching January's level.
Economists were expecting a modest 10,000 jobs to be added to the economy, leaving the unemployment rate steady at 6.6%.
Canada Seen Running at Full Employment
Soft Hiring Keeps Jobless Rate on Trend
Data Point to Initial World-Cup Boomlet for Canada
MTY Food Group Profit, Sales Fall
MTY Food Group's second-quarter profit fell, as softer consumer spending and a challenging operating environment weighed on sales.
The Canadian quick-service-restaurant franchiser company on posted a decline in net income to C$15.4 million, or C$0.67 a share, down from C$57.3 million, or C$2.49 a share, in the comparable quarter a year ago.
Adjusted earnings, which strips out exceptional items and one-off costs, came to C$0.97 a share. According to FactSet, analysts were expecting C$1.12 a share.
Revenue fell to C$279.9 million from C$304.9 million, missing forecasts of C$292.5 million, according to analysts polled on FactSet.
DRI Healthcare Exercises Put Option for $178 Million Payout
DRI Healthcare Trust is cashing out of its royalty investment in the drug Ekterly for about $178 million.
The Toronto-based pharmaceutical royalty company said that it exercised its contractual put option in connection with the completion of Chiesi Group's acquisition of KalVista Pharmaceuticals.
A put option gives the holder the right, but not the obligation, to sell an asset back to the issuer at a specified price, which in this case DRI exercised.
The company expects to receive the payment no later than mid-August, it said.
Altius Minerals Takes Increased 50% Stake in Great Bay Renewables
Altius Minerals has consolidated its ownership of Great Bay Renewables to 50%.
Through a share-purchase agreement with Northampton Capital Partners and certain funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, Altius will increase its effective interest in Great Bay Renewables from 29% to 50%. Northampton will also increase its effective interest in it to 50%, from the prior 22%, through the transaction.
The Apollo affiliates agreed to sell their membership interests in Great Bay Renewables for total consideration of about $390 million to Northampton Capital Partners, which will in turn simultaneously sell its 43% stake in Altius Renewable Royalties--through which Northampton holds its indirect interest in Great Bay Renewables--to Altius.
Aritzia Profit Surges on Growth Across Channels, Geographies
Aritzia's first-quarter profit more than doubled as sales grew across all channels and geographies.
Shares jumped 7.4% to settle at C$160.05.
That broad-based momentum has continued, the Canadian fashion retailer said, giving a second-quarter forecast that topped Wall Street's expectations. The company also raised its full-year guidance.
"The strength of our brand has never been more evident," Chief Executive Jennifer Wong said during a call with analysts.
Outperformance Fueled by Rising Brand Awareness, App Traction
Aritzia Has Long Growth Runway After Outperformance
Bausch + Lomb Ends Glaucoma Eye-Drop Development After Missed Trial Endpoint
Bausch + Lomb will stop developing a topical eye drop for glaucoma after the drug failed to meet its primary endpoint in a phase 2 study.
The company said the drug, BL1107, didn't replicate the same improvements in visual function from an earlier, smaller phase 1/2 study.
Instead, the company will advance BL1107 as a sustained-release implant to treat geographic atrophy, with clinical trials expected to begin in 2028, it said. It will continue to collaborate on the drug with Ripple Therapeutics.
Keystone Pipeline Operator Agrees to $70 Million Settlement Over 2022 Kansas Oil Spill
The owner and operator of the Keystone Pipeline has agreed to a settlement package worth nearly $70 million to resolve allegations that it violated the Clean Water Act in Kansas.
The Department of Justice said that South Bow $(USA)$ and South Bow Infrastructure Operations violated the Clean Water Act due to the 2022 rupture of the Keystone Pipeline in Washington County, Kansas.
The Keystone Pipeline is a 2,700-mile petroleum-transport network that extends from the oil sands of Alberta to U.S. terminals in Illinois and Texas. The pipeline was originally commissioned by TC Energy, but after U.S. authorization was revoked, and the company terminated the project in June 2021, the company spun off its liquids and pipelines business to South Bow in 2024.
Building Permits Fell 1.7% in May
Canadian building permits continued to pull back in May, driven by a drop in non-residential construction plans.
The total value of building permits were down 1.7% from the month before to a seasonally adjusted C$12.37 billion, Statistics Canada said.
The retreat was weaker than the 1% rise expected for the month by economists, according to TD Securities. It follows a 6.6% drop in the value of permits a month earlier and continues to roll back a strong rise in permits in March.
On a year-over-year basis, the overall value of permits issued was down 4.5%, Statistics Canada said.
TALKING POINT
Toronto's Population Whiplash Leaves It at the Bottom of the Pack Among Canadian and U.S. Cities
By Jason Kirby for the Globe and Mail
Toronto's shrinking population has pushed rental vacancies higher, worsened the collapsing condo market and threatens to blow an even wider hole in the city's finances.
It's also plunged Toronto to near the bottom of a ranking of the fastest-growing cities in Canada and the United States only one year after holding the top spot, according to an analysis of population data from the two countries by Toronto Metropolitan University's Centre for Urban Research and Land Development.
Earlier this year, Statistics Canada reported the population of the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area -- which covers the City of Toronto and surrounding municipalities -- shrank by roughly 1,000 people in the 12 months leading up to July 1, 2025, marking the first decline on record for the region outside of the pandemic.
That was a sharp reversal from a nearly 270,000-person increase the previous year, enough to knock Toronto from first place to 412th in the TMU researchers' annual analysis of 435 metropolitan areas in Canada and the U.S. Among Canadian cities, only Calgary and Edmonton made the Top 10 list, which included slowdowns in population growth across the board compared to 2024.
While Canada's clampdown on temporary foreign workers and international students is partly behind Toronto's decline, it's far from the whole story.
The researchers -- Diana Petramala, a senior economist at TMU, and senior research fellow Frank Clayton -- found Toronto still had one of the highest levels of net international migration among the fastest-growing cities, adding 53,000 people that way.
But that was down 84 per cent from the year before, and that immigration slowdown exposed a chronic problem Toronto has faced over the last decade: an exodus of people to other parts of Ontario and Canada, many feeling priced out by city's housing market. Toronto lost roughly 77,500 more people than it gained through domestic migration in 2025.
"The city's rank among other North American cities reflects sharp trends in out-migration of its existing population," the researchers wrote. "Increasingly unaffordable housing appears to be pushing many residents to other parts of Canada."
Decoder is a weekly feature that unpacks an important economic chart.
Expected Major Events for Monday
16:59/GER: May Balance of Payments
18:00/US: Jun Monthly Treasury Statement of Receipts and Outlays of the U.S. Government
23:01/UK: Jun BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor
All times in GMT. Powered by Onclusive and Dow Jones.
Expected Earnings for Monday
CCA Industries Inc $(CAWW)$ is expected to report for 2Q.
Carver Bancorp Inc (CARV) is expected to report for 4Q.
Commercial National Financial Corp (Pennsylvania) (CNAF) is expected to report for 2Q.
Cryo-Cell International Inc $(CCEL)$ is expected to report $0.00 for 2Q.
Environmental Tectonics Corp (ETCC) is expected to report for 1Q.
FB Financial Corp $(FBK)$ is expected to report $1.15 for 2Q.
Fastenal Co $(FAST)$ is expected to report $0.33 for 2Q.
Fastenal Co (FAST) is expected to report.
Jewett-Cameron Trading Co Ltd (JCT-T,JCTC) is expected to report for 3Q.
Lyra Therapeutics Inc $(LYRA)$ is expected to report for 1Q.
PrairieSky Royalty Ltd (PSK.T) is expected to report for 2Q.
Powered by Factset and Dow Jones.
We offer an enhanced version of this briefing that is optimized for viewing on mobile devices and sent directly to your email inbox. If you would like to sign up, please go to https://newsplus.wsj.com/subscriptions.
This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 10, 2026 16:31 ET (20:31 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Comments