Equities Weekly — Saturday October 24 2026

Materials Selloff Drags TSX as Central Banks, Earnings Loom

Canadian equities closed the week lower, with the S&P/TSX Composite down 1.07% to 35,788.20 as a collapse in Materials overwhelmed gains elsewhere on the board, while Financials and Energy both advanced and the Canadian dollar strengthened against the US dollar. South of the border, the Dow and Russell 2000 held up or gained even as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq slipped, and Europe fared worse still, with the Euro Stoxx 50, DAX and FTSE 100 all down more sharply than Canada. Volatility actually eased over the week despite the pullback, and the US 10-year yield fell alongside a firmer loonie. The week ahead brings decisions from the Bank of Canada, the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank, key US growth and employment data, and the first wave of Canadian earnings, including CNR.TO, CVE.TO, MG.TO and QSR.TO, all of which could determine whether this week’s damage stays contained to Materials or spreads further.

The Week in Canadian Equities

The S&P/TSX Composite closed the week at 35,788.20, down 1.07% from 36,176.60 a week earlier. That decline was driven almost entirely by one sector, Materials, which collapsed over the week and is covered in detail in the sector section below, dragging the headline index lower even as Financials and Energy both advanced. The Canadian dollar strengthened, with USD/CAD down 0.82% to 1.4004 from 1.4119, moving in the same direction as the US 10-year yield, which fell 11.0 basis points to 4.988%. Energy still managed a gain of 0.55% for the week even with a firmer loonie, which points to support in Canadian crude-linked names rather than currency-driven weakness. Volatility expectations did not mirror the equity pullback: the VIX eased 2.70% to 19.45, well below the 19.99 level it touched earlier in the period, even though it sat above where it started on October 14 at 16.87. The net effect is a market that looks calmer than its headline index suggests, with the damage concentrated rather than broad. Two threads define the week for Canadian investors heading into the close: a materials-led drag that masked gains elsewhere on the board, and a currency and yield move that, if it persists, could ease some of the pressure facing rate-sensitive sectors. Both threads will be tested quickly, with the Bank of Canada and the US Federal Reserve both due to announce decisions within days, and a wave of Canadian earnings, including heavyweight energy and rail names, arriving the same week.

By Athena and Atlas

Sector and Style Leadership

Beneath the S&P/TSX Composite’s 1.07% weekly decline, sector performance split cleanly into two camps. Financials led the index, up 0.93%, with Energy close behind at 0.55%; Technology and Utilities also finished positive, up 0.25% and 0.14% respectively, and Real Estate was essentially flat at -0.06%. Materials was the week’s defining move, down 8.54%, a loss large enough on its own to explain the broader index’s decline, while Consumer Staples also lagged, down 1.13%. Averaged together, cyclical sectors (Energy, Financials, Materials) fell 2.35% as a group against a much smaller 0.35% decline for defensives (Utilities, Consumer Staples, Real Estate), a two-point gap in favour of defensive positioning. That gap tells a cautious story, except that it was driven almost entirely by Materials rather than a uniform cyclical retreat, since Financials and Energy both bucked the pattern and posted gains. Canada has no growth or value benchmark against which to measure this further. In the United States, the defensive tilt was more consistent: Health Care and Real Estate both posted solid gains alongside Energy at the top of the table, while Communication Services fell 4.36%, the steepest sector decline on either side of the border apart from Canadian Materials, and Industrials also lagged, down 1.87%. The pattern common to both markets is a tape that rewarded defensives and punished a small number of concentrated laggards rather than selling cyclicals broadly.

By Athena

The United States and Europe

US benchmarks held up better than Canada’s this week, though the picture was mixed. The Dow added 0.41% to 52,215.16, the S&P 500 slipped 0.47% to 7,623.68 and the Nasdaq eased 0.71% to 25,955.34, while the Russell 2000 stood out with a 2.00% gain to 2,775.90, suggesting smaller US companies found support even as large caps drifted. Europe was softer across the board and more so than North America: the Euro Stoxx 50 fell 2.19% to 6,068.22, the DAX dropped 1.72% to 25,181.65, the FTSE 100 lost 1.76% to 10,690.40, and the STOXX Europe 600 declined 1.39% to 635.77. Volatility eased despite the softer tape, with the VIX down 2.70% to 19.45, and the US 10-year yield fell 11.0 basis points to 4.988%, a move that tends to ease pressure on rate-sensitive sectors on both sides of the border. For the Canadian investor, the S&P/TSX Composite’s 1.07% decline sits between Europe’s steeper losses and the more resilient large-cap US picture, while the Russell 2000’s strength indicates that risk appetite for smaller companies has not disappeared, even as the week’s selling pressure concentrated in specific pockets, mega-cap communication names in the US and Materials in Canada, rather than spreading broadly.

By Athena

Earnings and Corporate News

The clearest corporate story touching Canadian energy investors this week came from offshore drilling: Transocean Ltd. (RIG) filed confirming that shareholder votes on its stock-for-stock acquisition of Valaris, at an exchange ratio of 15.235 Transocean shares per Valaris share, are scheduled for November 24, 2026, with a Bermuda court Sanction Hearing set for November 26, 2026. That consolidation signals continued rationalization in offshore services even as the TSX Energy sector itself posted a modest 0.55% gain for the week. On the financing side, two large US issuers locked in funding at current rates: Workday, Inc. (WDAY) completed a $2.5 billion public offering of senior notes across four tranches maturing in 2029, 2031, 2033 and 2036, with coupons ranging from 5.700% to 6.500%, while Bank of America Corp (BAC) issued 80,000 shares of new 7.200% Fixed-Rate Reset Non-Cumulative Preferred Stock, Series WW, raising $2.0 billion at a $25,000 per-share liquidation preference. Both deals show large issuers willing to term out debt despite yields still sitting near 4.988% on the US 10-year. Closer to home, positioning commentary flagged AEM.TO, NTR.TO and BCE.TO as prone to more volatile, directional trading, while TD.TO, RY.TO and BMO.TO were flagged as likely to trade in a tighter range, a distinction worth watching as Canadian earnings season gathers pace next week.

By Athena

The Week Ahead

Central banks dominate the week ahead. The Bank of Canada delivers its decision on Wednesday, October 28, alongside the Monetary Policy Report, the same day the US Federal Reserve announces its own decision, with the European Central Bank following on Thursday, October 29. On the US data side, the Advance Estimate of third-quarter GDP and the Personal Income and Outlays report land Thursday, October 29, both high-impact, followed by the Employment Cost Index on Friday, October 30, and the Employment Situation report, including nonfarm payrolls, on Friday, November 6. These arrive after US jobless claims came in at 194K for the week, below the 200K forecast and down from 199K previously, a data point that will feed into how the Fed’s decision is read. No dated Canadian releases appear in this window, though Statistics Canada’s monthly inflation, Labour Force Survey and GDP reports remain due on their usual rhythm. Canadian earnings pick up materially: 24 tracked companies report in the week of October 26, including CNR.TO, CVE.TO, MG.TO and QSR.TO, and 68 more follow in the week of November 2, including ENB.TO, BCE.TO, CNQ.TO, BAM.TO and FTS.TO, results that will matter directly for a market still working through the Materials-led pullback and a rebalancing between cyclical and defensive positioning.

By Athena

Herald Chief Publishing Officer Written by Herald, with Athena and Atlas Equities Weekly · Saturday, October 24, 2026 · Weekly equities summary