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5 Things to Know Today: Canada Enters Recession, Oil Slips on Iran Ceasefire Talk

Saturday, May 30, 2026 — Your quick-hit Canadian financial briefing for the day. 1.Canada Officially Meets the Definition of a Technical Recession Statistics Canada confirmed Friday that real GDP contracted 0.1% on an annualized basis in Q1 2026 — following a revised 1.0% drop in Q4 2025 . That's two straight quarters of negative growth, which meets the technical definition of a recession. The miss was a big one: economists had forecast growth of 1.5% . The main culprits were a surge in imports (up 2.9%, largely gold), declining business capital investment (down 0.7% — its fifth consecutive quarterly drop ), and weakness in resource extraction and construction. On a per-capita basis, GDP actually edged up 0.2% as Canada's population shrank for the second quarter in a row. Not everyone is ready to call it a full recession: some economists note that three of the four weak months were isolated, and early April data points to a sharp 0.4% rebound . Still, the numbers ...

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U.S. Futures Steady as Investors Await Economic Data and Powell’s Speech

 

U.S. stock index futures remained largely unchanged on Thursday morning as investors awaited key economic data and a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. The producer price index (PPI) for October and weekly jobless claims data are expected to be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, which could provide insights into corporate pricing power and the broader economic outlook.

Market participants are also keenly anticipating Powell’s comments later in the day, hoping for clues on future monetary policy. Traders are currently pricing in a high probability of a 25-basis point interest rate cut at the Fed’s December meeting, following recent consumer price index data that aligned with forecasts.

In premarket trading, Dow E-minis were up 0.19%, S&P 500 E-minis rose 0.09%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis edged up 0.04%. Shares of cryptocurrency-focused companies saw gains, with Coinbase Global up 3.8% and bitcoin buyer MicroStrategy rising 3.4%.

Investors will be closely monitoring Powell’s speech for any indications of how the Fed plans to navigate the current economic landscape, especially in light of inflationary pressures and potential policy shifts under the incoming administration.


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