August 15, 2026
It was a record-setting week on Bay Street — four straight closing highs for the TSX, a fresh all-time high on Wall Street's S&P 500, and gold parked stubbornly above $4,300 an ounce. But Friday brought a reality check: soft U.S. retail sales data snapped the TSX's six-session winning streak, its longest since April, and pulled Wall Street off its records too. Underneath it all, the loonie quietly had its best week in months, and the clock on Canada's Aug. 19 tariff deadline is now down to single digits. Here's everything that moved your money this week, and what's on deck next.
🇨🇦 TSX: Four Records, Then a Friday Pullback
The S&P/TSX Composite piled on top of last Friday's record close (36,381.23) with four more record finishes in a row — Monday through Thursday — before profit-taking set in Friday after a weak U.S. retail sales report soured the mood across North American markets.
| Day | Close | Change |
|---|
| Mon, Aug 10 | 36,458.33 | +0.2% (record) |
| Tue, Aug 11 | 36,475.92 | +0.05% (record) |
| Wed, Aug 12 | 36,662.14 | +0.51% (record) |
| Thu, Aug 13 | 36,759.29 | +0.30% (record) |
| Fri, Aug 14 | 36,730.27 | -0.08% |
Net for the week: the index gained about 349 points, or +0.96% — its fourth straight positive week. Friday's dip came after the index touched a fresh intraday record of 36,844.73 before giving it back. Gold miners and financials led the charge for most of the week, while Air Canada was the standout story, surging more than 12% after posting stronger-than-expected earnings and flagging record September/October revenue on strong premium travel demand. Friday's laggards were mostly tech and retail names catching the U.S. slowdown signal — Shopify (-3%), Constellation Software (-2.3%) and Celestica (-4%) all pulled back, while Alimentation Couche-Tard and Loblaw slipped on the same soft-consumer read. Banks bucked the trend, with TD and CIBC both higher as rate-hold expectations firmed.
🇺🇸 U.S. Markets: A Record, Then a Reversal
Wall Street's week was a tug-of-war between cooling inflation data (bullish) and a standoff over the Strait of Hormuz (bearish), with a soft retail sales print tipping the scales lower on Friday.
| Day | Dow | S&P 500 | Nasdaq |
|---|
| Fri, Aug 7 (prior close) | 54,036.93 | 7,757.64 | 26,690.62 |
| Mon, Aug 10 | -0.1% | -0.1% | -0.3% |
| Tue, Aug 11 | -0.3% | -0.3% | -0.6% |
| Wed, Aug 12 | -0.04% | +0.26% | +0.54% |
| Thu, Aug 13 | 53,839.99 (+0.13%) | 7,798.99 (+0.65%, record) | 26,803.03 (+0.81%, record) |
| Fri, Aug 14 | 53,732.41 (-0.20%) | 7,785.76 (-0.17%) | 26,729.16 (-0.28%) |
For the week: the Dow slipped about 0.6%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq eked out small gains (+0.36% and +0.14% respectively), both touching fresh records Thursday — the S&P's first-ever close above 7,800. The path there was choppy: Tuesday was the worst day of the week as the U.S.-Iran standoff over the Strait of Hormuz intensified and Alphabet shares slid; Wednesday's in-line July CPI report (3.4% annual, matching forecasts) eased rate-hike worries and pushed the S&P to a record; Thursday's firmer producer-price data complicated that picture slightly, nudging September Fed rate-hike odds back up before Friday's weak retail sales and a soft consumer sentiment reading (51 vs. a forecast of 55) knocked stocks off their highs.
🌍 Europe & Asia: A Split Picture
Europe closed the week mixed. Friday's finish: FTSE 100 10,750.11 (-0.21%), Germany's DAX 26,440.31 (+0.53%), France's CAC 40 8,636.80 (-0.16%), and the Euro Stoxx 50 6,539.59 (-0.09%). Germany was the standout for the week — the DAX pushed toward its 52-week high, a rally Bloomberg described as unusually concentrated, driven by industrial and tech-adjacent names riding the spillover from strong U.S. AI and semiconductor earnings. The FTSE was dragged down mid-week after miner Antofagasta cut its 2026 copper guidance, pulling Rio Tinto and Anglo American lower with it, even as UK GDP data beat forecasts.
Asia was more clearly split. Japan's Nikkei 225 extended its rally to close Friday at 68,713.80 (+0.59%), buoyed by cooling U.S. inflation data and tech strength (Nintendo and Sony both jumped). South Korea's Kospi had a standout week, up sharply again Friday (+2.42%) on a semiconductor-led rally in SK Hynix and Samsung. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lagged, down roughly 1.1% Friday to around 25,117, with mainland China's Shanghai Composite roughly flat — both weighed down by a softer China demand outlook.
🛢️ 🪙 Oil, Gold & the Loonie
Oil stayed volatile all week on the unresolved Strait of Hormuz standoff — the U.S. suggested its naval blockade of Iran could continue "indefinitely," which kept a floor under prices even as diplomatic efforts sputtered. Brent topped $90 mid-week before easing back and closing Friday at $88.52 (+1.67% on the day); WTI finished around $82.37. Gold spent the week near record territory, touching a 10-week high above $4,400/oz on Thursday before profit-taking pulled it back to roughly $4,365 by Friday's close — still supported by continued central-bank buying, including China's 21st straight month of reserve additions. The Canadian dollar was this week's quiet winner, strengthening steadily to an eight-week high of 1.3873 per U.S. dollar by Friday (about 72.1 cents US) as narrowing bond-yield differentials and a softer greenback worked in the loonie's favour.
💰 What It Means for You
- RRSP/TFSA holders: both the TSX and S&P 500 are sitting near record territory after this week — a good moment to check you're still diversified rather than chasing whichever sector just ran hardest.
- Cross-border shoppers and snowbirds: the stronger loonie (now near an 8-week high) makes U.S. purchases and travel a little cheaper than they've been in months — worth timing bigger U.S.-dollar purchases while it holds.
- Drivers: oil's climb back above $88 (Brent) hasn't fully worked through to the pumps yet, but with the federal gas tax holiday expiring Sept. 7, it's a decent window to fill up before both pressures line up.
- Landlords and renovators: building materials like lumber, plywood and cement remain on the list of goods facing new U.S. tariffs if no deal is reached by Aug. 19 — worth locking in material costs now if a project is already planned.
📅 What to Watch Next Week
| Mon, Aug 17 | StatCan releases July CPI — the last major inflation read before the Bank of Canada's Sept. 2 rate decision. |
| Wed, Aug 19 | The U.S. tariff deadline hits — 50% tariffs on a range of Canadian autos, alcohol and dairy products take effect unless a deal is reached. Talks were described as "progressing well" as of Thursday, but no agreement was in place as of Friday's close. |
| Ongoing | Watch the Strait of Hormuz standoff — any sign of a breakthrough (or further escalation) will keep moving oil prices and, with them, gas prices and inflation expectations. |
| Aug 27-29 | The Fed's Jackson Hole symposium, featuring new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's first keynote address — closely watched for hints ahead of the Sept. 15-16 FOMC decision. |
| Tue, Sept 2 | Bank of Canada's next rate decision. |
Market data verified against multiple sources including Yahoo Finance, TradingEconomics, Investing.com, Reuters and The Canadian Press as of market close Friday, August 14, 2026. This post is for informational purposes only and isn't investment advice.
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