HEADLINES
Brookfield Asset Management Banks Record $77 Billion in Second Quarter
Brookfield Asset Management brought in a record $77 billion in the second quarter as fundraising and capital deployment continue to pick up.
Fundraising in the period was driven the New York asset manager's flagship strategies and a sizable $40 billion investment management mandate from U.K. retirement service provider Just Group. It brought Brookfield's fundraising to $98 billion year-to-date, more than half what was raised for all of 2025.
The quarter included the first $5 billion raised in the investment firm's AI Infrastructure Fund, while the seventh vintage of its private equity flagship strategy raised $6.7 billion and the sixth vintage of its infrastructure flagship strategy raised $9.3 billion, putting both funds on track to be the largest of their respective vintage.
Trade Negotiators Revive Proposed Steel and Aluminum Exports Quota in Return for Lower U.S. Tariffs
Trade negotiators are reviving a proposal that would see Canadian steel and aluminum exports subject to a quota system in return for lower U.S. levies on the metals, as the clock ticks down on President Donald Trump's next round of tariffs.
Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Janice Charette, Canada's chief negotiator, jetted to Washington on Tuesday for the second time in as many weeks as the pressure ramps up to make a breakthrough in stalled trade talks.
Their schedule this week includes meeting with U.S. industry groups that support the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, as well as sitting down with senators, one Canadian official told The Globe and Mail.
It was unclear whether Mr. LeBlanc would meet with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick or any other members of the Trump administration.
Thomson Reuters Lifts Revenue Guidance After Growth in Second Quarter
Thomson Reuters bumped up its revenue targets for the year after logging double-digit growth across its three big business segments in the latest quarter.
The Canadian news and information provider recorded second-quarter net earnings of $448 million, or $1.02 a share, up from $313 million, or 69 cents, a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, per-share earnings for the three months rose to 99 cents, beating the 96 cents analysts polled by FactSet forecast.
Revenue for the quarter increased 9.5% to $1.95 billion, compared with the $1.91 billion mean forecast. Growth benefited about 1% from foreign currency and 1% from net acquisitions and disposals, the company said.
Discovery Mining Shares Rise on High-Grade Ontario Drill Results
Discovery Mining shares rose after reporting high-grade drill results across three Ontario projects, confirming that its primary gold deposits extend beyond current resource boundaries.
Shares settled 9.7% higher at C$10.43.
Chief Executive Tony Makuch said the three critical growth projects--Dome, TVZ and Owl Creek--collectively, could contribute between 250,000 and 500,000 ounces of gold production every year.
The company said the new exploration data from the Timmins mining district strengthens the scale of its deposits and keeps it on track to issue updated resource estimates for Dome and TVZ late this year.
Gran Tierra Shares Jump on Deal to Exit Colombia and Ecuador Business
Gran Tierra Energy's shares rallied at the opening bell after the energy company reached a $1.33 billion deal to sell its oil business in Colombia and Ecuador to Etablissements Maurel & Prom.
The stock rose 37.1% to C$13.26.
The sale of the asset will leave Gran Tierra's producing operations be focused on Canada, though it will continue to chase exploration interests in Azerbaijan and other new growth opportunities.
The business being sold represents about 29,000 barrels of oil a day of Gran Tierra's average working-interest production in the first half of 2026, roughly 144 million barrels of proved-plus-probable reserves and 1.4 million gross acres across Colombia and Ecuador.
VersaBank's Planned Reorganization in U.S. Declared Effective by SEC
VersaBank's planned shift to the U.S. has the go ahead from the Securities and Exchange Commission, paving the way for a shareholder vote later this year.
The Canadian digital bank said its Form 2-4 registration statement in connection with its planned change to adopt a standard U.S. bank framework has been declared effective by the SEC.
The proposed reorganization of the company will create Versa Bancorp, a new Delaware corporation that will be the direct holding company of VersaBank and VersaBank USA National Association.
The regulator's declaration of the effectiveness marks the final requisite step before a shareholder vote on the change that is set to take place Sept. 16.
Canada Packers Swings to Loss as Costs Mount
Canada Packers swung to a net loss in the second quarter, driven by higher costs and an accounting charge weighed on performance.
The pork producer posted a net loss of C$28.4 million, or C$0.95 a share, compared with a profit of C$23.4 million, or C$0.79 a share, in the comparable quarter a year ago.
Canada Packer took on a noncash accounting charge on its biological assets in the quarter, coupled with higher costs in the quarter, particularly related to it now being a standalone public entity.
Adjusted earnings, which strips out exceptional items and other one-off costs, were C$0.34 a share. According to FactSet, analysts were expecting C$0.42 a share.
Canada Goose Sells Baffin Boots Brand
Canada Goose is selling its Baffin footwear brand as it looks to simplify operations and concentrate on its luxury lines.
The Canadian apparel company said it reached an agreement to sell Baffin to closely-held L.P. Royer, a Canadian maker of work and military footwear.
Financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed by the companies.
Canada Goose bought Baffin in 2018 for C$32.5 million. Adding the producer of winter, outdoor and industrial boots was Canada Goose's first step into footwear.
Aurora Cannabis Loss Narrows Despite Fall in Revenue
Aurora Cannabis' first-quarter loss narrowed, despite a drag from its Canadian medical cannabis unit that weighed on revenue in the period.
For the three months ended June 30, the Canadian cannabis company posted a narrowed net loss of C$4 million, compared with a loss of C$19.9 million in the year-earlier.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were C$3.4 million, down from C$10.8 million. According to FactSet, analysts were expecting C$2.4 million a share.
Total net revenue fell to C$67.6 million from C$74.1 million, with analysts expecting C$67.4 million for the quarter. Aurora said the decline was due largely to its Canadian medical cannabis segment as well as the winding down in consumer cannabis, offsetting gains in its international medical cannabis and wholesale bulk cannabis units.
TALKING POINT
Home-Building Is Sputtering, but Lumber Prices Haven't Been So High in Years
By Ryan Dezember
Home sales are slumping, renovation spending is losing steam and yet lumber prices have risen this summer to their highest level in four years.
Back in 2022, the price of two-by-fours was falling back to earth after a record-setting spike during the Covid pandemic, which set off a suburban building boom and sent stuck-at-home Americans into a do-it-yourself frenzy.
This time around, reduced supply rather than unyielding demand has driven lumber prices higher. Imports are down due to steep duties on Canadian boards and President Trump's 10% softwood lumber tariff. Meanwhile, low prices last year prompted sawmill curtailments and closures from British Columbia to northern Florida.
The Random Lengths Framing Lumber Composite price reached $535 per thousand board feet last month, its highest reading since September 2022. The price gauge, which is a weighted average of 15 key framing lumber prices used in construction, declined $3 last week after a bond rout pushed up mortgage rates to their highest level in a year, yet the lumber benchmark remains 23% higher than a year ago.
"Given softwood lumber demand to date is pretty much flat, the supply side is clearly doing most of the work to push prices up this year," said Dustin Jalbert, director of wood products and timber for Fastmarkets, which owns pricing service Random Lengths.
Home builders including D.R. Horton and Meritage Homes say the run-up in prices has become a headwind and will filter through to the cost of houses they sell later this year. Yet lumber futures, which are down about 11% from their high in late July, suggest that wood prices may have peaked for this year.
"We suspect lumber prices now approximate what will ultimately be their highs for the year with seasonal factors and rising mortgage rates likely to weigh on the demand side," said Kurt Yinger, an analyst with D.A. Davidson.
Supply is already down. Dozens of sawmills have closed across the U.S. and Canada in recent years, with a big wave of closures coming in the past year due to the prolonged housing downturn and higher import taxes. Canfor announced one of the latest last week when it said it would permanently shut its Fox Creek sawmill in Alberta by the end of September.
Canfor owns mills in northwestern Canada, the southeastern U.S. and Sweden. It cited persistently weak wood markets, difficulties with log supply related to wildfires and the wood-boring mountain pine beetle, as well as the U.S. duties and tariff.
Antidumping and countervailing duties on Canadian softwood lumber stem from a trade dispute that has been raging for decades. The combined duty rate on Canadian lumber more than doubled last year to about 35% for most producers. The 10% tariff was layered on top of those heavily litigated duty rates, which are based on prior years' sales.
The new duty rates are set to come down later this year. Though they aren't due to be finalized before later this month, the preliminary combined rate is about 25%.
Though a reduced duty rate should give sawmills in Canada a little more wiggle room to operate profitably at lower lumber prices, executives don't expect the decline of roughly 10 percentage points to be enough to significantly boost shipments across the border.
"I don't anticipate that those mills that have been shut down are going to come back," Weyerhaeuser Chief Executive Devin Stockfish told investors last week. "There's a certain amount of volume that's just out of the system."
Canadian softwood imports were down 15% through May, compared with a year earlier, according to Foreign Agricultural Service data. European imports, which rose in recent years when suppliers there raced to salvage logs from forests damaged by wind, fire and pests, have also declined.
The U.S. Lumber Coalition, which has fought for the duties, says the import taxes on Canadian lumber have enabled U.S. producers to add more than 8 billion board feet of sawmill capacity over the past decade and boost their share of the domestic market to 75%. Meanwhile, the share fulfilled by Canadian lumber has shrunk to about 19%, from more than 30% in 2016, the trade group says.
Another $500 million of investments in U.S. sawmill capacity have been announced since Trump added a 10% softwood lumber tariff last autumn that applies to all imports. That so-called Section 232 tariff was levied in the name of national security, similar to those slapped on aluminum, steel and copper products.
"The positive impact of the antidumping and countervailing duty measures coupled with President Trump's Section 232 tariffs has been nothing short of historic, and as such must be maintained," said Zoltan van Heyningen, the group's executive director.
Write to Ryan Dezember at ryan.dezember@wsj.com
Expected Major Events for Thursday
02:00/JPN: Jul Imported Vehicle Sales
06:00/GER: Jun Manufacturing orders
06:00/GER: Jun Manufacturing turnover
06:45/FRA: 2Q Flash estimate of job creation
08:00/ITA: Jun Industrial Production
08:30/UK: Jul S&P Global UK Construction PMI
09:30/US: Jul Challenger Job-Cut Report
12:15/CAN: Jul Official International Reserves
12:30/US: 2Q Preliminary Productivity and Costs
12:30/US: 08/01 Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report - Initial Claims
12:30/US: U.S. Weekly Export Sales
13:00/RUS: Weekly International Reserves
13:30/CAN: Jul Canada Services PMI
14:00/US: Jun Monthly Wholesale Trade
14:30/US: 07/31 EIA Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report
16:00/US: Jul Monthly U.S. Retail Chain Store Sales Index
20:30/US: Foreign Central Bank Holdings
20:30/US: Federal Discount Window Borrowings
23:01/UK: Jul BRC-Sensormatic IQ Footfall Monitor
23:30/JPN: Jun Household Spending
23:50/JPN: Jul International Reserves / Foreign Currency
23:50/JPN: Jul Provisional Trade Statistics for 1st 20 days of Month
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Expected Earnings for Thursday ATI Inc $(ATI)$ is expected to report $1.02 for 2Q.
Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc (AUP-T,AUPH) is expected to report $0.29 for 2Q.
Avient Corp (AVNT) is expected to report $0.77 for 2Q.
Axcelis Technologies Inc $(ACLS)$ is expected to report $0.60 for 2Q.
CRA International Inc $(CRAI)$ is expected to report $2.15 for 2Q.
Chegg Inc (CHGG) is expected to report $-0.07 for 2Q.
Commerce.com Inc $(CMRC)$ is expected to report $-0.04 for 2Q.
Core Natural Resources Inc (CNR) is expected to report for 2Q.
Dana Inc $(DAN)$ is expected to report $0.62 for 2Q.
Distribution Solutions Group Inc $(DSGR)$ is expected to report $0.28 for 2Q.
Driven Brands Holdings Inc (DRVN) is expected to report $0.21 for 2Q.
ESAB Corp $(ESAB)$ is expected to report $1.25 for 2Q.
Fiserv Inc (FISV) is expected to report $1.32 for 2Q.
Fox Corp - Class A (FOX,FOXA) is expected to report $1.39 for 4Q.
Frontdoor Inc (FTDR) is expected to report $1.60 for 2Q.
Genesis Energy LP $(GEL)$ is expected to report $0.32 for 2Q.
Graham Corp (GHM) is expected to report $0.27 for 1Q.
Howmet Aerospace Inc (HWM) is expected to report $1.24 for 2Q.
ITT Inc $(ITT)$ is expected to report $1.38 for 2Q.
Insight Enterprises Inc (NSIT) is expected to report $2.54 for 2Q.
Integer Holdings Corp $(ITGR)$ is expected to report $0.84 for 2Q.
Keurig Dr Pepper Inc (KDP) is expected to report $0.52 for 2Q.
Lantheus Holdings Inc $(LNTH)$ is expected to report $0.99 for 2Q.
Leggett & Platt Inc $(LEG)$ is expected to report $0.28 for 2Q.
Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Inc $(LXRX)$ is expected to report $-0.05 for 2Q.
Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corp $(VAC)$ is expected to report $1.71 for 2Q.
Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd - ADR $(MLCO)$ is expected to report $0.07 for 2Q.
Molson Coors Beverage Co - Class B (TAP,TAPA) is expected to report $1.47 for 2Q.
NexPoint Real Estate Finance Inc (NREF) is expected to report $0.32 for 2Q.
Ocugen Inc (OCGN) is expected to report $-0.05 for 2Q.
Onity Group Inc $(ONIT)$ is expected to report $0.95 for 2Q.
Paramount Resources Ltd (POU.T,PRMRF) is expected to report $0.45 for 2Q.
Praxis Precision Medicines Inc (PRAX) is expected to report $-3.64 for 2Q.
Shift4 Payments Inc (FOUR) is expected to report $0.31 for 2Q.
Shutterstock Inc (SSTK) is expected to report $0.21 for 2Q.
Teleflex Inc $(TFX)$ is expected to report $0.64 for 2Q.
USA TODAY Co Inc $(TDAY)$ is expected to report $0.03 for 2Q.
Upland Software Inc $(UPLD)$ is expected to report for 2Q.
Vontier Corp $(VNT)$ is expected to report $0.77 for 2Q.
Zoetis Inc $(ZTS)$ is expected to report $1.78 for 2Q.
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