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Gold Crashed 30% This Year — Now It's Climbing Again. Should Your TFSA or RRSP Be In It?

  August 12, 2026 If you've only glanced at the gold headlines this week, you've probably seen some version of "gold near two-month high." That's true — spot gold touched an intraday peak of US$4,434.84 an ounce on Tuesday, its best level since June 5, before settling back to around US$4,382. But "two-month high" undersells what's actually happened to gold in 2026, and that fuller story is the part that matters if you're deciding whether to put any of it in a TFSA, RRSP, or FHSA right now. Here's the short version: gold went nearly vertical in January, hit an all-time record, crashed by close to 30% within weeks, spent the spring and early summer languishing near US$4,000, and has spent the last six weeks clawing about 10% of that back. Where it goes from here is genuinely split among the banks that cover it professionally. That's the setup worth understanding before you buy. The wildest year gold has ever had Gold entered 2026 already o...
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Markets Today: Oil Climbs on Iran Tensions as Wall Street Awaits July CPI, TSX Holds Near Record

 

Wednesday, August 12, 2026

Oil is on the move again this morning, world stocks are treading water, and the Toronto Stock Exchange is sitting just off its latest record as everyone waits on one number: the U.S. July inflation report, due at 8:30 a.m. ET. Here's what happened overnight and what it means for your money.

Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX)

Canada's benchmark index closed at a fresh record for the third straight session on Tuesday, edging up 17.59 points, or 0.1%, to 36,475.92. It wasn't a blowout day — utilities (+2%) and telecom stocks (+1.7%) led the way, along with health care (+0.9%), while technology names dragged, with OpenText down 3% and Coveo Solutions off 2.4%. Shopify slipped more than 1% and gold miners and consumer staples each eased 0.2%. Air Canada was a bright spot, up 5.9% after Scotiabank raised its price target on the stock. The TSX Venture Exchange eased 7.23 points to 966.58. The Canadian dollar inched up slightly to about 71.82¢ US.

Wall Street

U.S. stocks fell for a second straight session Tuesday as rising oil prices and elevated bond yields weighed on sentiment ahead of the inflation data. The S&P 500 declined 0.32% to 7,728.20, the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.6% to 26,445.45, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 184 points, or 0.34%, to close at 53,791.85. All three indexes remain within striking distance of last week's record highs.

This morning, futures are little changed to modestly higher — Dow futures roughly flat, S&P 500 futures up about 0.1-0.2%, Nasdaq futures up as much as 0.6% — as traders brace for the July Consumer Price Index. Economists expect headline CPI up 0.1% month-over-month and 3.4% year-over-year (down from June's 3.5%), with core CPI up 0.2% month-over-month. Futures markets are currently pricing roughly a coin-flip's odds of a Federal Reserve rate hike at next month's meeting, so today's number carries real weight. Cisco Systems reports earnings after Tuesday's rally in AI-infrastructure names on CoreWeave's strong results; Applied Materials follows on Thursday.

Europe

European shares are holding near record territory Wednesday as a strong corporate earnings season offsets jitters over the Middle East and the looming U.S. inflation print. The pan-European Stoxx 600 is up about 0.1%, Germany's DAX has added roughly 0.4%, while France's CAC 40 and London's FTSE 100 are little changed. Chipmakers ASML and Infineon are higher on the CoreWeave-driven tech rally, while luxury names LVMH, Hermes, and Kering are the session's laggards, down 1.5-3% apiece. Dutch bank ABN AMRO jumped more than 5% on strong results, and Danish wind-turbine maker Vestas surged over 18%. Final July inflation readings confirmed price growth at 2.8% year-over-year in both Germany and Italy.

Asia-Pacific

Asian markets traded mixed overnight. Japan's Nikkei 225 gained around 0.7%, South Korea's Kospi advanced, and mainland China's benchmark was roughly flat, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng lagged, down about 1.2%. The region is caught between Wall Street's pullback from records and cautious optimism that a resolution in the Middle East could eventually ease energy costs.

Oil, Gold and the Loonie

Oil is climbing for a sixth straight session. Brent crude is trading near $89.50-89.70 a barrel and U.S. benchmark WTI is near $84, both up close to 1% this morning after U.S. naval forces disabled the steering gear of a Panama-flagged cargo ship that tried to breach Washington's blockade of Iranian ports overnight. The blockade has been in place since mid-April as part of the broader U.S.-Iran conflict, and talks aimed at fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz remain stalled despite recent optimism from Pakistan's defence minister that a deal is close.

Gold is holding just above $4,400 an ounce, near a two-month high, supported by continued Chinese central bank buying — Beijing added roughly 20 tonnes to its reserves in July, the largest monthly increase since late 2023. The metal briefly topped $4,440 on Tuesday before a stronger U.S. dollar pared some of the gains. The Canadian dollar is little changed near 71.8¢ US (about 1.393 per U.S. dollar), holding close to an eight-week high.

What It Means for You

  • Oil's climb toward $90 Brent is one to watch at the pump — gas prices had eased through late July but this week's naval escalation near Iran could put upward pressure back on fill-ups.
  • A record-setting TSX is good news if you hold Canadian equities in an RRSP or TFSA, but the rally's leadership (utilities, telecom) rather than tech is a more defensive signal than a euphoric one.
  • Today's U.S. CPI print matters for mortgage renewers: a hotter-than-expected number raises the odds of a Fed hike and tends to push bond yields — and eventually fixed mortgage rates — higher; a soft print could relieve some of that pressure heading into the Bank of Canada's September 2 decision.
  • The loonie near an eight-week high offers modest relief if you're planning U.S. travel or online shopping in U.S. dollars, though it's still well off the highs seen earlier this year.

What to Watch

  • Today, 8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. July Consumer Price Index
  • Thursday: U.S. Producer Price Index (PPI)
  • Friday: U.S. retail sales
  • August 17: Statistics Canada releases July CPI
  • August 19: Deadline for the U.S. 50% tariff on select Canadian goods (wine, dairy, furniture, hockey gear) — talks are ongoing
  • September 2: Bank of Canada interest rate decision

Market levels reflect data available as of publication and can move quickly, especially around today's inflation release. This article is for informational purposes only and is not investment advice.

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