Canadian Stocks Little Changed Amid Trump-Putin Summit, Domestic Data

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks ended the day roughly flat on Friday amid expectations of the three-year-plus war between Russia and Ukraine ending soon, with the US president meeting his Russian counterpart today in Alaska coupled with mixed domestic economic data.

After opening a little above yesterday's close, the benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index managed to reach an intra-day high of 27,932.10 in less than half-hour.

Then, failing to carry the momentum, it traded lower for the major part of the session and closed at 27,905.49, down by 10.50 points (or 0.04%).

In an effort to soon end the ongoing three-plus-year war between Russia and Ukraine, US President Donald Trump is meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, today.

While Trump has warned Russia to stop the war after the summit or face severe consequences, ahead of the meeting he also stated that something better may turn out and the Ukrainian president would be involved in a second summit if today's talks go well.

Canada's manufacturing sales rose by 0.3% to C$68.5 billion in June. Sales rose in 13 of 21 sub-sectors. Year-on-year, manufacturing sales shrank by 2.7%.

Canada's wholesale sales rose 0.7% to C$84.7 billion in June 2025.

The yield on the Canadian 10-year government bond climbed above 3.44% in August to a two-week high.

A summary of deliberations among Bank of Canada's policymakers, which was released yesterday, showed that the governing council members were divided in their approaches to keeping the rates at 2.75 in July.

The BoC will analyze July and August inflation data before it makes a decision on further interest rate cuts on September 17.

In the US, with inflation data not supportive of huge rate cuts, jobs numbers are keeping the Fed rate cut expectations alive among traders.

Canada is struggling to find a way out from the 35% levy imposed on majority of its imports to the US that are not covered by CUSMA pact.

In a new development, China has filed a lawsuit against Canada at the World Trade Organization over Canada implementing steel tariff rate quotas and placing restrictions on products containing "Chinese steel components".

Separately, China had already imposed a 75.8% tariff on canola imports from Canada, which took effect from yesterday. This duty is threatening to erode millions of dollar value of Canada's most valuable crop.

PM Mark Carney stated that officials will work on a support package for canola farmers while negotiating with Chinese counterparts to end the trade row.

Domestically, the strike called for by Air Canada's flight attendants' union is taking effect soon, disrupting travels for tens of thousands with Air Canada cancelling a majority of its 700 daily flights.

Major sectors that gained in today's trading were Healthcare (4.02%), Communication Services (0.94%), Materials (0.69%), and Consumer Staples (0.43%).

Among the individual stocks, Bausch Health Companies (10.98%), Mda Ltd (4.91%), Quebecor Inc (1.23%), Ssr Mining Inc (4.18%), Centerra Gold Inc (3.30%), and The North West Company Inc (3.70%) were the prominent gainers.

Major sectors that lost in today's trading were Financials (0.11%), Energy (0.24%), and Consumer Discretionary (0.27%).

Among the individual stocks, Goeasy Ltd (1.42%), Brookfield Asset Management Ltd (1.15%), Terravest Capital Inc (2.68%), and Brp Inc (1.61%) were the notable losers.