With much of the country focused on summer holidays, the coming week will be light in market-moving events. But investors will want to keep an eye on the following.
Retail Sales Numbers
The latest figures that will measure how retail sales have rebounded since the full economic lockdowns imposed in mid-March due to the COVID-19 crisis will be released on Tuesday.
Statistics Canada will issue full retail sales numbers for May. The federal agency had provided an early quick glimpse at that sales figures in May, as the economies in most provinces were slowly reopening, which showed a good rebound after they had set a record drop of 26.4% in April, a loss that reported amounted to more than $34.5 billion.
June Inflation Figures
On Wednesday, Statistics Canada will provide a look at the latest inflation figures for the month of June.
The monthly Consumer Price Index will offer some insight on how consumers’ spending habits have been affected during the pandemic.
In May, the CPI fell 0.4% compared with a year ago, registering the second month in a row of negative inflation. The CPI dropped 0.2% in April.
Prices rose in four of the eight major component groups in May. Transportation prices contributed most to the overall drop, due mainly to lower gas prices as compared to the same month in 2019.
If gas was taken out of the equation, StatsCan said the CPI rose 0.7%, the smallest monthly hike since January 2013.
Grocery Chains Release Earnings
Canadian grocery chains will be in focus this week. Empire Company Ltd (TSX:EMPa), which owns the Sobeys network of food stores, is set to publicly unveil what it is calling its three-year strategy on Wednesday, while Loblaw Companies Limited (TSX:L), Canada’s largest food retailer, will discuss its second-quarter earnings results on Thursday.
Officials with both companies were called to testify in front of a parliamentary committee earlier this month, denying they colluded when they stopped paying wage premiums that had been introduced at the beginning of the pandemic. Speculation of collusion had been raised as both companies announced their decisions to revoke the wage increases on the same day.
CN and CP Rail Report
Canada’s two national rail operators will be reporting this week.
Canadian National Railway Co (TSX:CNR) is up first, reporting second-quarter earnings on Tuesday, while Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd (TSX:CP) will present its second-quarter earnings on Wednesday. The figures are expected to show an improvement over the previous quarter.
Recently, both CP and rival CN announced they had transported record amounts of grain in the second quarter.