HEADLINES
Canada Looks to Lure New Investment With Aggressive, Broad Tax Writeoff Terms
Canada is implementing a tax change tied to the accelerated write off of capital equipment that attempts to move the country toward Prime Minister Mark Carney's goal of attracting nearly $1 trillion of new investment.
Lobbying groups for Canadian companies applauded the decision and said it could set the stage for an investment renaissance. Economists and public-policy analysts dubbed this the most substantial change to Canada's tax code in decades, and helps Canada compete following President Trump's tax revamp introduced last year.
Carney's announcement is aimed at strengthening Canada's tax competitiveness and encouraging investment at a time when Canada is confronted with a toughened trade environment and hefty tariffs on key exports to the U.S. Officials said the proposed change will improve productivity and strengthen the economy.
Canada to Allow Pension-Fund Investment in Country's Big Airports
Brookfield, CPP Investments Launch C$50 Billion Fund as Canada Capital Wave Grows
Wholesale Sales Rose 0.3% in July
Canadian wholesale trade was buoyed in July by a rise in sales of metal products.
Wholesale sales rose 0.3% from the month before to a seasonally adjusted C$93.09 billion, Statistics Canada said. That was stronger than the data agency's advance estimate of sales retreating 0.6% for the month, and builds on the 2.8% rise a month earlier.
Compared with a year earlier, sales climbed 7.9%. And in volume terms, sales were down 0.6% during July but up 1.8% compared with a year prior.
The result contrasts with a pullback in manufacturing shipments in July and drop in monthly sales volumes, which points to headwinds for the economy to kick off the third quarter.
Existing Home Sales Fell in August as Economic Uncertainty Builds
Activity in Canada's housing market faltered last month, potentially setting the stage for fresh weakness as uncertainty among consumers rises.
Sales of existing homes nationally fell 0.7% from the month before in August, eating into modest gains the previous four months, the Canadian Real Estate Association said.
Broadly, there has been little change in activity since May. Residential sales were 6.9% below year-earlier levels, not seasonally adjusted.
At the same time, there was a rebound in new listings in August, with a 3.3% rise in properties for sale after three straight monthly declines earlier in the summer.
Canada, EU to Begin Talks on 'Unique' Alliance Next Month, Carney Says
Canada and the European Union will begin talks next month on a new security and economic alliance, the latest bold step by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to reduce his country's economic reliance on the U.S.
Carney delivered the news at an investment summit he's hosting in Toronto, where some of the world's biggest investors - from Wall Street heavyweights like Blackstone and BlackRock to sovereign-wealth funds from Norway and Abu Dhabi - are attending as the Canadian leader makes a pitch for their investment dollars.
Late Tuesday, Carney is traveling to Europe where he's set to deliver remarks to the European Parliament. In remarks at the summit, Carney provided a preview of what's ahead.
Bank of Montreal Invests in New Fund That Will Back Innovative AI Companies
Bank of Montreal is investing in a Radical Ventures fund that aims to support upstart artificial-intelligence companies in Canada and abroad to become the next generation of global tech champions.
The Radical Breakouts fund, a new venture-capital strategy from Toronto-based Radical Ventures, is designed to provide late-stage capital to innovative AI companies looking to scale up. The fund has secured more than US$1 billion in commitments from institutional investors, the bank said.
Investment in the fund is part of an effort by the Bank of Montreal to help bolster innovation in the country and accelerate the commercialization of technologies. The big Canadian lender recently said it plans to mobilize up to C$70 billion in new capital for sectors deemed critical to Canadian economic security and resilience over 10 years, including AI computing.
RB Global Shares Rise on Expanded Buyback Program to $1 Billion
RB Global shares advanced after the company said that it has doubled the dollar amount of its share-repurchase ceiling to $1 billion.
Shares settled 2.5% higher at C$119.81.
The commercial assets and vehicles marketplace said the Toronto Stock Exchange has approved an amendment to its current share-repurchase program allowing it to buy back up to about 14.2 million shares, or about 10% of its public float, up to $1 billion.
Previously the company had a target to buy back up to 10 million shares, or about 7% of the total public float up to a maximum of $500 million.
Evertz Technologies Shares Fall as Higher Costs Bite Into Profit
Evertz Technologies shares fell sharply after the company reported lower first-quarter profit as higher costs offset a rise in revenue.
Shares declined 13.2% to C$12.89.
The Canadian software defined video network technology company late on Monday reported a decline in profit to C$7.96 million, or C$0.10 a share, for the three months ended July 31, down from C$11.9 million, or C$0.15 a share.
Analysts polled on FactSet expected a less precipitous decline to C$0.14 a share.
CareRx Gets TSX Green Light to Renew Buyback Program fro 2.75% of Public Float
CareRx intends to renew its share repurchase program to buy back up to 2.75% of its common shares over the course of a one-year period.
The Canadian pharmacy services company said that the Toronto Stock Exchange approved its plans to renew its normal course issuer bid to buy back up to 1.75 million shares for cancellation.
CareRx can begin buying back shares starting on Sept. 17.
TALKING POINT
Energy, Mining Projects to Face Single Review Within 12 Months, Resources Minister Says
By Paul Vieira
OTTAWA--Canada is pushing to ensure all prospective projects in the energy and mining sectors are subject to one regulatory review and completed within a year, according to the country's energy and resources minister.
Changes to regulatory rules enacted last week and commitments by Prime Minister Mark Carney at an investment summit in Toronto hopefully set the stage for companies and investors to pursue commodity projects, Tim Hodgson said in an interview Tuesday. The Carney government has said it wants to position the country as an energy superpower.
"If you come to Canada, you will have one review--not multiple reviews from different agencies of the federal government, different agencies of provincial governments," Hodgson said on the sidelines of the Carney-organized investment summit.
Upon taking office in 2025, Carney moved to reduce some of the regulatory overlap related to project assessments, and have projects deemed of national importance to be completed within two years.
The new goal is to shorten the timeframe even further, to 12 months, Hodgson said. Such a move "attracts capital. That gets things built. That creates jobs. That creates prosperity," he said.
Officials have added that there is new legislation coming to parliament in the fall that aims to entrench the reduction of regulatory overlap across all sectors of the Canadian government in an effort to speed up the building of infrastructure, mines, data centers and other projects.
Last week, Canada said that proposed oil-and-gas pipelines, natural-gas plants and electricity-transmission lines would no longer be subject to a secondary environmental assessment under a scheme introduced by former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. At the time, Trudeau made it a top policy priority to contain carbon emissions and position the economy to reach a target of net-zero emissions by 2050.
Meanwhile, Hodgson said he is confident that a tax change, introduced Tuesday, which deals with the accelerated write-off on a broad-based range of depreciable property on a permanent basis is going to attract investment in the energy and mining fields.
This will be "an incredible motivator to invest in new projects," Hodgson said.
"We are going to build the infrastructure so we can get our energy and critical minerals to [ports], so we can trade with all of our allies, not just allies we share a border with," the minister added.
Write to Paul Vieira at paul.vieira@wsj.com
Expected Major Events for Wednesday
06:00/UK: Aug Producer Price Index
08:00/ITA: Aug CPI
08:30/UK: Jun Card Spending statistics
08:30/UK: Aug CPI
08:30/UK: Jul UK House Price Index
11:00/US: 09/11 MBA Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey
12:15/CAN: Aug Housing Starts
12:30/CAN: Jul Building permits
12:30/US: Aug Import & Export Price Indexes
12:30/US: Aug Advance Monthly Sales for Retail & Food Services
12:30/CAN: Aug Model-based Principal Field Crop Estimates
14:00/US: Jul Manufacturing & Trade: Inventories & Sales
14:00/US: Sep NAHB Housing Market Index
14:30/US: 09/11 EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report
18:00/US: Federal Reserve economic projections
18:00/US: U.S. interest rate decision
20:00/US: Jul Treasury International Capital Data
All times in GMT. Powered by Onclusive and Dow Jones.
Expected Earnings for Wednesday Aeluma Inc $(ALMU)$ is expected to report for 4Q.
Bio-Path Holdings Inc $(BPTH)$ is expected to report for 2Q.
Dollarama Inc (DLMAF,DOL.T) is expected to report $1.28 for 2Q.
Here Group Ltd - ADR $(HERE)$ is expected to report for 4Q.
Ispire Technology Inc $(ISPR)$ is expected to report $0.05 for 4Q.
Lennar Corp - Class A (LEN,LENB) is expected to report $1.29 for 3Q.
NioCorp Developments Ltd (NB,NBD-T) is expected to report $-0.04 for 4Q.