Last week ended on a bit of a sour note when Statistics Canada reported that Canada’s economy lost jobs for the first time in four months. However, the unemployment rate held steady at its lowest level since 2024. There are no major scheduled economic announcements from Canada this week. That said, there are plenty of critical economic announcements from elsewhere around the world, including in the US, where the inflation report for August will be announced. Here’s what to watch for this week.

• Bloomberg Nanos will release its reading of Canadian consumer confidence today. Canadian consumer confidence has been running at relatively low levels amid economic, trade and price uncertainty.
• Home sales in the US will be announced on Thursday. The US labour market has been under pressure in recent months amid high mortgage rates and elevated home prices.
• The US consumer price index in August will be released on Friday. The annual inflation rate in the US eased to 3.4% in July from 3.5% in June, its second straight slowdown. The US Federal Reserve Board (Fed) will carefully analyze this release.
• Looking abroad, China’s inflation rate will be announced tonight, the European Central Bank’s interest rate decision on Thursday and UK economic growth on Friday.
• Notable earnings in Canada include Empire Co. and Descartes Systems Group. Key earnings in the US include GameStop and Oracle.

The Fed makes its next interest rate announcement on September 16. While the US labour market report was relatively robust, markets expect the Fed’s decision to be largely based on this week’s inflation report. Canada-US trade tensions may be in the news this week with Canada set to impose new retaliatory tariffs on the US.

If you would like to discuss this economic and market update or have questions about your finances and investments, please feel free to contact me anytime.