HEADLINES
Inflation Accelerated to 3% in July
Canadian inflation accelerated a touch faster than expected last month as prices at the pump again spiked higher, though cost pressures continue to be narrow enough that the central bank isn't expected to be pushed into lifting interest rates.
The consumer-price index rose 0.5% in July, bringing the annual inflation rate to 3%, Statistics Canada said.
That has inflation again at the top end of the 1% to 3% window the Bank of Canada aims for and was a tick hotter than the 2.9% economists expected, after the pace cooled to 2.8% in June.
BOC Rate Increase On the Horizon, Macquarie Reckons
Billions to Be Spent in Newfoundland as Part of Power Expansion Plans
Canada will provide more than $7 billion to expand power generation in Atlantic Canada in its quest to double the capacity of its electricity grid by 2050.
The money is earmarked for the Churchill Falls hydroelectric expansion project in Newfoundland and Labrador, one of the largest in Canada. When completed, Churchill Falls and a new generation station to be built on nearby Gull Island will produce enough power for homes in Canada's three largest cities combined, officials said.
Federal officials peg the cost of the power expansion at about C$50 billion, or among the largest clean-energy projects in North American history.
Carney Expects to Talk With Trump on Pending 50% Duty
Prime Minister Mark Carney expects to speak with President Trump about Washington's intention to slap a 50% tariff on roughly $20 billion of Canadian imports as early as Wednesday.
The U.S. and Canada are engaged in "very delicate and intense negotiations," Carney told reporters in the province of Newfoundland, as he unveiled plans for a big electricity-generation project. Negotiators for Canada have been in D.C. for the better part of a week to reach a deal that would persuade the Trump administration to either delay or scrap the imposition of proposed hefty levy.
The duty marks the latest escalation in U.S.-Canada trade tensions, after Trump imposed hefty duties on its northern neighbor despite the existence of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade treaty. Canada is the lone Group of Seven country that has not reached a deal with the U.S. regarding tariffs.
Perpetua Resources Loss Widens as Predevelopment Accelerates in Idaho
Perpetua Resources logged a widened second-quarter loss as predevelopment exploration expenditures surged ahead of an expected final investment decision for its Idaho project.
The mining company posted a net loss of $97.5 million, compared with a loss of $6 million in the comparable quarter a year ago.
Perpetua said that the widened loss was primarily driven by higher exploration and predevelopment spending ahead of a final investment and construction decision.
Endeavour Silver Shares Fall as Local Protest Over Community Rights Suspends Mexico Mine Operations
Endeavour Silver suspended operations at its Terronera project in Mexico, where local community members organized a peaceful demonstration to demand investments in water access, healthcare and infrastructure.
Shares fell 4.7% to C$14.07.
The Vancouver, British Columbia-based miner said Monday that its operations at Terronera have been suspended since Aug. 12.
The Terronera Mine is located in the mountainous region of San Sebastián, a historic mining district in Jalisco State, about 160 kilometers west of Guadalajara and 50 kilometers northeast of Puerto Vallarta.
Foreigners Bought C$40.83 Billion of Canadian Securities in June
Canadian investors increased their exposure to U.S. shares and corporate bonds in June, even as foreign investors continued to pick up Canadian debt securities.
International securities transactions generated a net inflow of funds into the Canadian economy of C$5.4 billion, Statistics Canada said Monday.
This brought the inflow in the second quarter to roughly C$55.1 billion.
Nonresident investors purchased a net C$40.83 billion in Canadian securities during the month, and made an unprecedented C$100.6 billion investment during the quarter.
Foreign Appetite for Canada Govt Debt Looks Voracious
Spin Master Buys Brooklyn Tech Startup Hapiko to Expand AI Toy Portfolio
Spin Master has agreed to acquire Brooklyn-based startup Hapiko, integrating child-focused artificial intelligence technology into its toy lineup.
The transaction brings Hapiko's Stickerbox platform under Toronto-based Spin Master's umbrella, merging Hapiko's voice-to-image sticker-printing device with the toy maker's global manufacturing and distribution footprint.
Spin Master aims to accelerate its long-term strategy of bridging physical toys with digital innovation, it said Monday.
No financial details were disclosed.
TALKING POINT
RBC Bets on Growth in Europe as Businesses Diversify Trade
By Stefanie Marotta for The Globe and Mail
Derek Neldner, Royal Bank of Canada's RY-T head of capital markets, travelled to London in April, where the lender's senior bankers from across the globe convened to strategize on its plan to go head to head with the world's biggest investment banks.
As trade uncertainty and geopolitical volatility whipsaw markets, the capital-markets unit of Canada's largest lender is boosting hiring, expanding its products and services and pushing into sectors in Britain and Europe where it believes it can grow its business.
It's part of the bank's bid to break out from its position as the 13th-largest capital-markets business globally and crack the top ten list, which is dominated by U.S. banks.
"When we look at the size of the [European] market, it's a very big growth opportunity for us. It's very relevant to our North American clients, both in terms of cross-border opportunities as well as financing," Mr. Neldner said in an interview.
"When you just look at what's going on in the world in terms of trade, the opportunity in Europe continues to improve, and the opportunity for a Canadian bank in Europe has continued to get better."
The region is making up a bigger portion of RBC's capital-markets revenue. In 2025, Britain and Europe accounted for 18 per cent of the unit's total revenue, climbing 33 per cent to $2.5-billion from the year prior - outpacing growth in Canada, the U.S. and the Asia-Pacific.
Mr. Neldner said Britain and Europe are among RBC's biggest growth opportunities in capital markets, and he expects the business in the region to contribute as much as 20 per cent of the unit's revenue in the coming years.
European investment banks have been losing market share to U.S. lenders, buoyed by easing regulatory requirements that allow them to deploy more capital to clients.
RBC is eager to be part of the mix. The lender has seen growing interest from Canadian companies exploring opportunities in Europe, as well as inbound interest from foreign businesses.
Much of RBC's business in Britain and Europe involves working with Canadian companies on deals overseas, pulling from its expertise in both regions. The bank was the sole financial adviser on Brookfield Wealth Solutions' takeover of Britain-based Just Group PLC for GBP2.4-billion as part of its expansion into the country's pension risk market.
RBC also advised British mining giant Anglo American PLC on its merger with Vancouver's Teck Resources Ltd.
Mr. Neldner said many Canadian companies are also diversifying their funding sources through cross-border financing. The bank's debt capital markets team is spending more time with clients considering the sterling, euro, Australian dollar and U.S. dollar bond markets.
As global trade routes shift, RBC expects cross-border transactions to boom. Mr. Neldner said trade dynamics have been changing for more than a year now, but companies are being thoughtful when approaching their long-term strategies and navigating volatile geopolitical swings.
"Even if they make a strategic decision that they want to expand in another geography, it takes time to find the right opportunity and execute on that," Mr. Neldner said. "We're still fairly early in the journey of seeing an increase in what we expect to be a higher level of cross-border activity."
As the bank plots its expansion in the region, RBC is also increasingly taking on deals between companies that are both based in either Britain or Europe.
Earlier this year, RBC acted as an adviser to an institutional investor consortium, including Europe's largest pension fund, Dutch asset manager APG, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte and Norges Bank Investment Management, which manages Norway's and the world's largest sovereign wealth fund. The consortium acquired a 46-per-cent stake in German electricity transmission system operator TenneT GmbH & Co. for up to ? 9.5-billion.
RBC also advised German-based pension fund Ärzteversorgung Westfalen-Lippe and two German institutional investors on the sale of their combined indirect stake in Amprion GmbH, one of the country's utility companies. The deal was valued at ?3.6-billion.
"Those are interesting because we do lots of cross-border business, but both of those were effectively in-country domestic German transactions," Mr. Neldner said.
"When you think about transactions of that scale - when you get into ?3and ?9-billion transactions - these were very large, very competitive pieces of business that all banks would like to be around."
Last fall, RBC moved its Frankfurt and Paris teams - its two largest in Europe - into bigger offices to accommodate its growing work force and upgrade its premises as it attracts new European clients and bigger deals.
RBC has been hiring across Britain and Europe, pulling senior bankers from capital markets heavyweight banks, including U.S.-based Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc., Germany-based Deutsche Bank AG, and London's Barclays Plc.
The lender has grown its capital-markets team in the region by 16 per cent in the past five years. Its 1,300 employees are largely based in Britain, but also span across Germany, France, Switzerland, Spain and the Netherlands, which also serves the other Benelux countries of Belgium and Luxembourg.
In the past year, RBC has hired more than 20 managing directors in its European business. Mr. Neldner said the bank will continue hiring, in particular in Germany and Paris, and the "additions are going to be measured in the hundreds."
Looking ahead, he said the bank would consider expanding its capital-markets business in Italy, where many of its global peers have offices.
The lender is looking at filling gaps in its coverage by sector and country.
RBC is building its investment-banking teams that specialize in high-demand sectors, including industrials, health care, financial institutions and technology.
In global markets, the bank is expanding its equity derivatives and financing businesses. It's also enhancing its commodities products and services to push further into the growing energy and metals markets. RBC hired Ron Ruffini from Citigroup's London office as its head of commodities risk solutions in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
At its investor day in 2025, the bank earmarked its corporate-banking unit to grow in the mid-single-digit range, but Mr. Neldner said the business has been outpacing that target as companies seek out more capital.
RBC has also been investing in its U.S. cash-management business, which it launched in 2024. It recently brought British and European companies onto its RBC Clear platform, which provides its large corporate clients with payments and receivable management, as well as other treasury and liquidity services.
But the bank still considers its U.S. capital-markets business its biggest growth opportunity. RBC was the only Canadian bank on the list of 23 bookrunners involved in the SpaceX IPO in June. It was also a joint bookrunner on Alphabet Inc.'s US$84.75-billion equity capital raise.
And the Canadian business is still critical to the unit's growth strategy, especially as interest in the bank's domestic market rises from foreign companies and investors amid Ottawa's ambitions to bolster economic growth.
"There's been a very meaningful shift in the strategic direction of the country led by the federal government, and when you look at the focus on energy, defence, critical minerals, infrastructure, that strategy is resonating," Mr. Neldner said.
"Canada globally is being seen as a much-more attractive place for investment than it has been in the last decade."
Expected Major Events for Tuesday
06:00/UK: Jul UK monthly unemployment figures
08:30/UK: Jul Monthly Insolvency statistics
09:05/GER: Aug ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment
12:15/CAN: Jul Housing Starts
12:30/US: Jul Import & Export Price Indexes
12:30/US: Jul New Residential Construction - Housing Starts and Building Permits
12:55/US: 08/15 Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index
13:15/US: Jul Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization
14:00/US: 2Q Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales
14:00/US: Jul Pending Home Sales Index
20:30/US: API Weekly Statistical Bulletin
23:50/JPN: Jun Orders Received for Machinery
All times in GMT. Powered by Onclusive and Dow Jones.
Expected Earnings for Tuesday AnaptysBio Inc $(ANAB)$ is expected to report $-0.13 for 2Q.
Anavex Life Sciences Corp (AVXL) is expected to report $-0.17 for 3Q.
Damora Therapeutics Inc $(DMRA)$ is expected to report for 2Q.
Healthier Choices Management Corp (HCMC) is expected to report for 2Q.
Hyperliquid Strategies Inc (PURR) is expected to report for 3Q.
Iridex Corp $(IRIX)$ is expected to report $-0.24 for 2Q.
Jack Henry & Associates Inc $(JKHY)$ is expected to report $1.47 for 4Q.
Keysight Technologies Inc (KEYS) is expected to report $2.16 for 3Q.
La-Z-Boy Inc $(LZB)$ is expected to report $0.49 for 1Q.
Mega Matrix Inc (MPU) is expected to report for 1Q.
Mercury Systems Inc (MRCY) is expected to report $0.11 for 4Q.
Sypris Solutions Inc (SYPR) is expected to report for 2Q.
Toll Brothers Inc $(TOL)$ is expected to report $2.93 for 3Q.
Vicarious Surgical Inc (RBOT) is expected to report for 2Q.
Wins Finance Holdings Inc (WINSF) is expected to report for Interim.
ZenaTech Inc $(ZENA)$ 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.
Comments