Current Economics
Markets are closed for the weekend. Here is a quick recap of the week that was, what is developing over the weekend, and what to watch when trading resumes Monday.
Published 2026-08-29 · Educational information only
It was another volatile week. The TSX touched a near-record high of 36,834 Thursday (+0.1%), one of its best closes ever, before easing Friday as commodity shares pulled back. U.S. stocks were choppy into Friday's close, when Fed Chair Kevin Warsh delivered a deliberately hawkish Jackson Hole address, warning that inflation's underlying trend "has not meaningfully improved" and that the Fed "has more work to do." That reversed weeks of hold-versus-cut speculation into hold-versus-hike: odds of a rate increase at the Fed's September 15–16 meeting jumped to about 46%, from roughly 35% a day earlier. The S&P 500 slipped 0.25% to 7,712, the Dow eased slightly to 53,560, and the Nasdaq fell 0.7%, with chip stocks giving back some of their recent gains even after Nvidia's August 26 earnings.
Markets are digesting Friday's hawkish pivot from Fed Chair Warsh — a sharp shift from the rate-hold expectations that had dominated earlier in August. The loonie has already weakened to around 1.39 per U.S. dollar, down from a three-month high near 1.376 on August 21, as the U.S. dollar firmed broadly on the prospect of a September hike. Any weekend commentary from other Federal Reserve officials reinforcing — or pushing back on — Warsh's message could move yields, the dollar, and equities sharply before Monday's open.
It's a data-heavy week bookended by two major events: the Bank of Canada's rate decision on Wednesday, September 2 (markets widely expect another hold at 2.25%), and the U.S. August jobs report on Friday, September 5 — the first employment reading since Warsh's hawkish turn, and a key test of whether a September hike is genuinely back on the table. U.S. markets are closed Monday, September 1 for Labour Day; the rest of the week brings ISM Manufacturing, JOLTS job openings, the Fed's Beige Book, ISM Services, and ADP private payrolls. Canada's retaliatory tariffs on roughly $20 billion of U.S. goods — covered in our August 25 brief — are set to take effect September 8.
Weekend headlines — especially anything from Federal Reserve officials following Friday's hawkish speech — can move markets sharply before Monday's open. If any of this has you wondering whether to change something in your portfolio or plan, that is a good reason to book a 30-minute session on Monday rather than make a decision based on one week's news.
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