Business Brief: Five-ish files to follow this week

Morning. In focus this week, we’re tracking an impending trade deadline with the U.S., a provincial power deal and the continued condo-market slump. But first:

Up first

In the news

Finance: Royal Bank of Canada’s capital-markets unit is making a big push into Europe with new hiring and expanded services.

Big picture: Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has been a god-like boon to IMAX Corp., headquartered in Mississauga.

Transportation: Trucking industry experts are calling for a significant overhaul to Ontario’s commercial driver training oversight, in the wake of a scathing Auditor-General report that raised concerns over shoddy enforcement.

In focus

Hi, I’m Chris Hannay, a business reporter at The Globe and Mail. I’m filling in for your regular Chris, who is on vacation. Let’s dive into some of the big news coming up this week:

Trade talks: Canadian representatives are still hoping to pull off some kind of trade agreement with the United States before Wednesday, when new 50-per-cent tariffs take effect on US$20-billion worth of Canadian exports.

Sources have told The Globe that the two sides remain far apart, even as Ottawa hopes to also make progress on reducing sectoral tariffs that the U.S. levied on Canadian steel, aluminum, lumber and autos.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mark Carney is scheduled to be back from an Italian vacation on Monday. Ciao!

More trade: Even if a deal is reached by Wednesday, it’s only just the start.

Canada still has to respond to U.S. demands for better access to northern oil and critical minerals, and navigate American insistence that Canada direct more defence spending to U.S. products, such as the F-35 fighter jets. Plus there’s that little thing called the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which ostensibly governs the trade between the three countries.

Whatever deals are struck, Carney will have to convince provinces to go along with it, such as putting U.S. alcohol back on shelves.

Housing: Construction cranes have been an iconic sight of Toronto’s skyline in recent years, but the continuing slump in the condo market is not a problem in that city alone.

In fact, some of the most distressed areas have been outside Toronto, new data show. Just to the north, in Vaughan Metropolitan Centre, some 43 per cent of the area’s new condo inventory (under construction, preconstruction or newly built) is unsold. And just to the west, in downtown Hamilton, 34 per cent of inventory is unsold.

We’ll get new real estate numbers on Tuesday for July, including existing home sales and average prices, the MLS Home Price Index and housing starts.

Provincial power: The premiers of Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador are set to make an announcement Monday afternoon in St. John’s about “energy security and economic development.”

The news conference comes days after La Presse reported that the two provincial governments had reached a deal to share energy from the Churchill Falls generating station in Labrador, which is jointly owned by utilities from the two provinces.

Newfoundland’s Tony Wakeham and Quebec’s Christine Fréchette will be joined by Quebec Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy Bernard Drainville, and Claudine Bouchard, president and chief executive officer of Hydro-Québec.

Earnings: This week we’ll get the latest results from some major retailers, with Home Depot Inc. reporting on Tuesday, Target Corp. on Wednesday and Walmart Inc. on Thursday.

Sales figures will give new insight into how consumers are faring right now with the cost of living.

Charted

Decoding debt

Putting it into perspective: Canada’s government debt has surged in recent years, but the load carried by the United States is really in a whole other league. Data show that the amount the U.S. federal government pays just on annual interest payments alone would cover Canada’s total debt, and then some.

Morning update

Global shares were mixed after a run of soft U.S. economic data saw markets reduce bets for an imminent rate hike from the Federal Reserve.

Wall Street futures were also mixed with the Dow pointing lower, while TSX futures were flat, after major North American markets closed down on Friday.

Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.04 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.02 per cent, Germany’s DAX declined 0.06 per cent and France’s CAC 40 gave back 0.16 per cent.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.74 per cent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.34 per cent.

The Canadian dollar traded at 72.16 U.S. cents.