HEADLINES
Retail Sales Look to Build on January's 1.1% Rise
Consumers in Canada showed signs of resilience in the early months of the year despite mounting struggles for the economy and ahead of the surge in prices at the pump that threatens to take a bite out of consumption.
Retail sales in the first month of 2026 rose 1.1% from the month before to a seasonally adjusted C$70.71 billion, Statistics Canada said. An advance tally of receipts indicates sales in February were up 0.9%.
If the estimate for last month holds, it would mark the first back-to-back increase for retailers in almost a year after choppy trade for much of 2025. That would represent a tailwind for the economy this quarter, amid a raft of otherwise gloomy signals for the country.
Retail Sales A Bright Spot For the Economy
Producer Prices Rose 0.4% in February
Producer price inflation in Canada cooled somewhat last month, though an increase in energy prices hinted at early signs of pressure from the conflict in the Middle East.
Statistics Canada's industrial product price index increased 0.4% in February from the month before. That marks a seventh rise for the index in the last eight months following a 2.8% advance in the first month of 2026.
Compared with a year earlier, the producer-price index climbed 5.4%.
Hammond Power Solutions Ramps Up Capacity as AI Push Lifts Backlog
Hammond Power Solutions is riding a wave of demand coming from U.S. as big tech builds out the infrastructure needed to support artificial-intelligence data centers.
The Guelph, Ontario, transformer manufacturer ended 2025 with a backlog at the highest level in the company's history, driven by what Chief Executive Adrian Thomas describes as several large, multiyear custom projects tied to the data-center ecosystem. The company is now expanding its capacity to meet the new demand.
Hammond shares rose 13.7% to C$197.67.
Westport Fuel Systems Hit by Cybersecurity Breach, Financial Filing to Be Delayed
Westport Fuel Systems said that it is investigating an unauthorized breach of its network.
The Vancouver, British-Columbia-based clean-technology engineering company said that the breach involved unauthorized access to certain of Westport's internal IT business applications along with other business and employee information.
Westport said that its manufacturing activities haven't been affected by the breach, since those operations are managed on separate servers. The company said it expects to file its full-year financial results after the deadline of March 31.
Westport shares fell 3.8% to C$2.56.
Alstom Gets $927 Million Canada Contract Extension
Alstom said it won a contract renewal worth around 800 million euros to provide services for rail operations in Ontario, Canada.
The French train maker said Friday that the contract with provincial agency Metrolinx now runs until 2031, and covers operations and maintenance services for rail operations for GO Transit in the Greater Golden Horseshoe area of the province, as well as for Union Pearson Express, a service connecting the city of Toronto to its airport.
"This latest contract extension with Metrolinx consolidates Alstom's position as the leading private provider of operations and maintenance services in North America," Michael Keroulle, president of Alstom America, said.
TALKING POINT
Canadian Regulators Move Toward What Exchange Boss Hopes Is End to Mandatory Quarterly Reporting
By Robb M. Stewart
OTTAWA--Canadian securities regulators' move to end mandatory quarterly earnings reports for small companies should be the first move toward applying that change broadly, the head of the company behind the Toronto Stock Exchange said.
It is a shift that TMX Group Chief Executive John McKenzie argues will strengthen capital markets in Canada and help revive initial public offerings in the country at a time when the U.S. is similarly looking to ax forced quarterly reports.
The Canadian Securities Administrators, an umbrella body for provincial and territorial securities regulators, has embarked on a multi-year pilot program that will allow eligible listed companies to voluntarily adopt semi-annual reporting, doing away with financial reports at the three- and nine-month marks. The exemption will apply to issuers listed on the TSX Venture Exchange or Canadian Securities Exchange that have, among other criteria, yearly revenue of less than C$10 million.
Although it is a pilot project for now, McKenzie said the intent must be to make the shift permanent, something he has spoken to regulators about signalling so that companies who make the change have confidence it won't be rolled back on them.
"I'm glad that they're using the momentum in terms of the kind of challenging ecosystem right now to make the case to move faster. Sometimes burden reduction recommendations, they can languish before they get the energy to go forward," McKenzie said in an interview.
It is a material change that has implications for Canada's main exchange in Toronto and the junior TMX Venture market, both of which TMX Group operates.
Regulators in Canada said the shift aims to find a better balance between regulatory burden and investor protection for venture companies, which are often startups or emerging businesses.
In a request last year for comment on its proposal, the CSA said scaling back the reporting requirement would lower administrative and related costs for smaller companies, allowing them to allocate more capital to their operations.. A cut in reporting costs could also lower barriers and increase the number of companies opting to list and remain listed on an exchange, it said.
The pilot shouldn't have any affect on the stability of the financial system in Canada. The pilot will provide eligible companies a choice on the frequency of their reporting based on needs and investor expectations, the CSA said.
Given a choice, Mackenzie said he wouldn't have drawn the line at C$10 million in revenue, which he cautioned could be viewed as a disincentive for some firms to grow, but instead would have rolled it out across all listed venture companies. He also makes the case for mandatory quarterly reporting to be dropped outright, and said markets in Canada can move even quicker than in the U.S. to adopt the change if allowed.
There are moves underway in the U.S.
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that the Securities and Exchange Commission was preparing a proposal to eliminate the requirement to report quarterly and instead give companies an option to share results twice a year. President Trump in November said companies shouldn't be required to report earnings every three months, an idea he explored during his first term.
There were roughly 1,460 companies listed on the TSX Venture or CSE that were under the C$10 million revenue threshold reporting in Ontario as of September, which was just under 90% of all listed venture issuers in the province. Applying the change to all listed companies would lift the number to close to 3,000 Canada-wide, and nearly 4,000 if fund issuers are included, McKenzie said.
Quarterly reporting means companies are restricted more often from discussing their performance during so-called quiet periods around the release of results, and if the focus is on quarters it can make it harder to have a longer-term perspective, McKenzie said. While some critics worry an end to quarterly reports will lead to selective disclosure, McKenzie said it won't change regulatory rules on material news.
"I think the value to the issuers in moving to semi-annual is really strong, in terms of both burden reduction and cost reduction. Candidly, it actually allows you to talk to your shareholders more often than less, which is sometimes the counterintuitive piece that people don't think about," he said.
Given the chance, McKenzie said the Toronto-listed TMX would move to semi-annual reporting, adding that wouldn't stop the company from each month releasing trading statements for the Toronto Exchange, TSX Venture, Montreal Exchange and Alpha Exchange.
Write to Robb M. Stewart at [robb.stewart@wsj.com]
Expected Major Events for Monday
05:00/JPN: Feb Convenience Store Sales
12:30/US: Feb Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI)
14:00/US: Jan Construction Spending - Construction Put in Place
14:00/US: 4Q Quarterly Financial Report - Retail Trade
14:00/US: 4Q Quarterly Financial Report - Industry
23:30/JPN: Feb CPI (Nation), CPI ex-food (Nation)
All times in GMT. Powered by Onclusive and Dow Jones.
Expected Earnings for Monday
ACT Energy Technologies Ltd (ACX.T) is expected to report for 4Q.
Annexon Inc $(ANNX)$ is expected to report $-0.32 for 4Q.
Caledonia Mining Corp PLC (CAL-T,CMCL) is expected to report for 4Q.
Cyclerion Therapeutics Inc $(CYCN)$ is expected to report for 4Q.
Diamedica Therapeutics Inc (DMA-V,DMAC) is expected to report $-0.20 for 4Q.
Dundee Corp - Class A (DC.A.T,DDEJF) is expected to report for 4Q.
Energy Focus Inc $(EFOI)$ is expected to report for 4Q.
Exicure Inc $(XCUR)$ is expected to report for 4Q.
Genie Energy Ltd $(GNE)$ is expected to report $0.07 for 4Q.
Intellinetics Inc $(INLX)$ is expected to report for 4Q.
LanzaTech Global Inc (LNZA) is expected to report for 4Q.
Liberty Gold Corp (LGD.T,PLGTF) is expected to report for 4Q.
Lithium Argentina AG (LAR.T) is expected to report for 4Q.
Lument Finance Trust Inc (LFT) is expected to report $0.10 for 4Q.
Mannatech Inc $(MTEX)$ is expected to report for 4Q.
Microbot Medical Inc (MBOT) is expected to report for 4Q.
New Fortress Energy Inc (NFE) is expected to report $-0.47 for 4Q.
PAVmed Inc $(PAVM)$ is expected to report for 4Q.
Quarterhill Inc (QTRH,QTRH.T) is expected to report for 4Q.
Reliv International Inc (RELV) is expected to report for 4Q.
(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires
March 20, 2026 16:30 ET (20:30 GMT)
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