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Restaurant Brands International Inc. says its third-quarter profit rose compared with a year ago helped by strength in its Tim Hortons and international operations. The company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says its net income attributable to common shareholders amounted to US$315 million or 96 cents US per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30. The result compared with a profit of US$252 million or 79 cents US in the same quarter last year. Revenue for the quarter totalled US$2.45 billion, up from US$2.29 billion a year ago. On an adjusted basis, RBI says it earned US$1.03 per diluted share in its latest quarter, up from 93 cents US per diluted share in the same quarter last year. In addition to Tim Hortons, RBI is the company behind the Burger King, Popeyes and Firehouse Subs brands

Gildan Activewear Inc. reported a third-quarter profit of US$120.2 million, down from US$131.5 million in the same quarter last year, as its net sales edged higher. The Montreal-based clothing maker, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says the profit amounted to 80 cents US per diluted share for the quarter ended Sep. 28, down from 82 cents US per diluted share a year earlier. Net sales totalled US$910.6 million, up from US$891.1 million a year ago. On an adjusted basis, Gildan says it earned US$1.00 per diluted share in its most recent quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 85 cents US per share in the same quarter last year. In its outlook for its full year, the company says it now expects adjusted diluted earnings per share in a range of US$3.45 to US$3.51 compared with earlier guidance for a range of US$3.40 to US$3.56. Gildan announced a deal in August to acquire HanesBrands for US$2.2 billion.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2025. Companies in this story: (TSX:GIL)

The Bank of Canada cut its benchmark interest rate on Wednesday but signalled that it might be at the end of its easing cycle even as U.S. tariffs inflict significant and lasting damage on the Canadian economy.

The bank’s governing council voted to lower the policy rate by a quarter-percentage-point to 2.25 per cent. This was the bank’s second consecutive cut, and the fourth cut this year.

Live updates on the Bank of Canada’s rate decision

U.S. Federal Reserve expected to cut interest rate again despite data gaps

The decision was driven by a weakening economic outlook and a belief that inflation is largely contained. But Governor Tiff Macklem suggested that it may be the bank’s last rate cut for some time.

If the economy evolves in line with the bank’s new forecast, Mr. Macklem said, “governing council sees the current policy rate at about the right level to keep inflation close to 2 per cent while helping the economy through this period of structural adjustment.”

The bank didn’t mince words about the outlook for the Canadian economy.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s protectionism and moves to dismantle continental free trade have hammered Canadian businesses and workers, and will leave lasting scars on the country’s economic capacity.

The bank estimates that Canada’s gross domestic product will be about 1.5 percentage points smaller by the end of next year than it would have been without U.S. tariffs and the uncertainty they have sowed.

“The weakness we’re seeing in the Canadian economy is more than a cyclical downturn. It is also a structural transition,” Mr. Macklem said, according to the prepared text of his remarks.

“The U.S. trade conflict has diminished Canada’s economic prospects. The structural damage caused by tariffs is reducing our productive capacity and adding costs.”

The Bank of Canada’s rate cut makes sense. But now what?

Canada’s economy contending with steep U.S. tariffs

Since returning to the White House in January, Mr. Trump has hit Canada with a range of double-digit tariffs, both directly and as part of a push to protect certain U.S. industries.

This includes a blanket tariff on imports from Canada that don’t meet free trade agreement rules, and duties on steel, aluminum, autos and forest products.

Taken together, this has pushed the average U.S. effective tariff rate on Canadian goods to 5.9 per cent from only 0.1 per cent at the start of the year, the bank said.

The latest round of tariff negotiations between Ottawa and Washington broke down last week after Mr. Trump became angry over a TV advertisement made by the Government of Ontario that criticized tariffs.

The trade war has produced a sharp drop in Canadian exports to the U.S. and layoffs in sectors directly impacted by the levies. Even in industries not directly touched by tariffs, business investment is frozen and companies are holding off hiring, given the trade uncertainty.

Can Canada really double non-U.S. exports in a decade?

New economic forecasts see tepid GDP growth

The bank’s new base-case forecast, published Wednesday in its quarterly Monetary Policy Report, sees GDP growing by around 0.75 per cent in the second half of the year, following a 1.6 per cent drop in the second quarter.

Looking further out, the bank expects GDP to grow by a tepid 1.1 per cent in 2026 and 1.6 per cent in 2027, with trade uncertainty layered on top of a sharp slowdown in population growth as a result of Ottawa’s new immigration targets. This is the first base-case forecast the bank has published since January.

When it comes to inflation, the bank appears to be less concerned than it has been in recent quarters.

Trade disruptions continue to push up costs for businesses, but companies are having a tough time passing these costs along to customers given weak demand. Ottawa’s removal of most counter-tariffs against the U.S. in September also means there will be less of an impact on the price of imported goods.

Annual Consumer Price Index inflation was 2.4 per cent in September, with core inflation measures running around 3 per cent – the top end of the bank’s inflation-control band. But upward momentum in inflation“has dissipated,” Mr. Macklem said.

“Looking at a broader range of indicators, underlying inflation looks to be around 2.5 per cent. The bank expects inflationary pressures to ease in the months ahead and CPI inflation to remain near 2 per cent over the projection horizon,” he said.

Why might the Bank of Canada hold off on further interest rate cuts?

With the bank becoming less worried about inflation and more worried about economic weakness, it raises a key question: Why are Mr. Macklem and his team suggesting they may be done with interest rate cuts?

After all, at 2.25 per cent, the policy rate is at the lower end of what the bank considers to be a “neutral” range for its policy rate. Monetary policy is not in deeply stimulative territory.

Mr. Macklem said that the structural weakening of the Canadian economy means there is less the bank can do to stimulate growth without causing inflation.

“Monetary policy cannot undo the damage caused by tariffs. Increased trade friction with the United States means our economy will work less efficiently, with higher costs and less income. Monetary policy can help the economy adjust as long as inflation is well-controlled, but it cannot restore the economy to its pre-tariff path,” he said.

With monetary policy constrained, support for the Canadian economy is shifting to fiscal policy.

Prime Minister Mark Carney will release his first budget next Tuesday, which is expected to show significant deficit spending, with a focus on infrastructure, defence and housing.

 Celestica Inc. (CLS) on Monday reported third-quarter earnings of $267.8 million.

The Toronto-based company said it had profit of $2.31 per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were $1.58 per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.47 per share.

The electronics manufacturing services company posted revenue of $3.19 billion in the period, also exceeding Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $3.02 billion.

For the current quarter ending in December, Celestica expects its per-share earnings to range from $1.65 to $1.81.

The company said it expects revenue in the range of $3.33 billion to $3.58 billion for the fiscal fourth quarter.

Celestica expects full-year earnings to be $5.90 per share, with revenue expected to be $12.2 billion.

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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on CLS at https://www.zacks.com/ap/CLS

Shares of Cameco Corp. CCO-T +21.85%increase rose more than 20 per cent after the company and Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. BAM-T +0.99%increase announced a partnership agreement with the U.S. government to help build nuclear reactors in the United States.

Under the deal, the U.S. government will arrange financing and facilitate the permitting and approvals for at least US$80-billion ($111.6-billion) worth of new Westinghouse nuclear reactors in the U.S.

Brookfield and Cameco acquired Westinghouse in November, 2023.

“We expect that the new build commitments from the U.S. will bolster broader confidence in the durable growth profile for nuclear power, and support increased demand for Westinghouse’s and Cameco’s products, services and technologies,” Cameco chief executive Tim Gitzel said in a statement. 

“This new partnership highlights the role that Westinghouse’s reactor technologies, based on fully designed, licensed and operating reactors, are expected to play in the planned expansion of nuclear capacity and diversification of global nuclear supply chains.”

Cameco shares were up $25.36 at $146.62 in trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange, while Brookfield Asset Management class A shares gained $1.50 at $77.91.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the government is focused on ensuring the rapid development, deployment, and use of advanced nuclear technologies. 

“This historic partnership supports our national security objectives and enhances our critical infrastructure,” he said in a statement.

The partnership agreement will see the U.S. government receive a participation interest, which, once vested, will entitle it to 20 per cent of any cash distributions in excess of US$17.5-billion ($24.4-billion) made by Westinghouse after its granting.

For the participation interest to vest, the U.S. government must make a final investment decision and enter into definitive agreements to complete the construction of at least US$80-billion in new Westinghouse nuclear reactors in the U.S.

The U.S. government will also be entitled under certain circumstances to convert the participation interest into a warrant to buy shares in an initial public offering by Westinghouse equivalent to 20 per cent of the public value of the company at the time after deducting US$17.5-billion.

Gold prices fell nearly 2% Monday, as hopes of easing U.S.-China trade tensions lifted risk appetite for equities, while investors awaited major central bank meetings this week for rate cut cues.

Spot gold was down 1.3% at $4,059.22 per ounce as of 0837 GMT. Prices hit a record high of $4,381.21 on October 20, buoyed by rising bets for U.S. rate cuts, and geopolitical and economic uncertainties, but have since fallen more than 5%.

U.S. gold futures for December delivery lost 1.6% to $4,072.40.

Asian stocks surged as signs of a detente in China-U.S. trade tensions buoyed risk appetite in a strong start to a week that will be headlined by central bank meetings and megacap earnings.

“A possible trade deal between the U.S. and China is supporting risky assets and weighing on gold, but we should also remember that potentially lower tariffs will allow the Federal Reserve to cut rates further,” UBS commodity analyst Giovanni Staunovo said in Zurich.

The U.S. and China are set to “come away with” a trade deal, U.S. President Donald Trump said, one day after top officials of the two countries hashed out a framework for Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to decide on during their upcoming meeting in South Korea.

Meanwhile, the Fed is expected to cut rates by a quarter percentage point on Wednesday, a view supported by a softer-than-expected September inflation.

With a 25-bps cut already priced in, markets are looking ahead to any forward-looking remarks from Fed Chair Jerome Powell at the meeting.

“Lower real interest rates should still support demand for gold. The market consensus is looking for the Fed to cut rates by 25 basis points, so I don’t expect much movement around the FOMC meeting,” Staunovo added.

Non-yielding gold tends to benefit in a low-interest-rate environment.

Elsewhere, spot silver fell 1.3% to $47.96 per ounce, platinum eased 0.3% to $1,601.75 and palladium gained 0.1% to $1,429.61.

Oil prices fell on Monday, pressured by skepticism that a U.S. and Chinese trade deal framework would immediately boost oil demand and after Iraq’s oil minister confirmed an oilfield fire had not affected the OPEC member’s oil exports.

Brent crude futures were down 32 cents, or nearly 0.5%, to $65.62 a barrel at 1015 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 30 cents, also about 0.5%, to $61.20.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday U.S. and Chinese officials had hashed out a “substantial framework” for a trade deal that could avoid 100% U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods and achieve a deferral of China’s rare-earth export controls in trade talks this week.

This boosted global stock markets on Monday, while safe-haven gold and bonds retreated, along with oil.

Demand concerns

“Oil market participants are much more skeptical of trade deals than their equity counterparts. A bright negotiating atmosphere does not immediately mean demand,” said PVM Oil Associates analyst John Evans.

Concerns over lackluster demand have weighed on the market, with Brent falling to its lowest since May earlier this month, but renewed sanctions on Russia from the U.S. along with stronger-than-expected U.S. demand have helped buoy prices.

“The hope for bulls is that U.S. consumption continues to recover, otherwise it seems the drift lower seen so far today is likely to intensify,” said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG Bank.

Meanwhile Iraq, OPEC’s biggest overproducer, was in negotiations over the size of its quota within its available capacity of 5.5 million barrels per day, oil minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani said at an oil conference on Monday.

OPEC and its allies have changed course this year by reversing previous production cuts to regain market share, helping to keep a lid on oil prices.

The fire at Iraq’s Zubair oilfield on Sunday did not affect exports from the country, the country’s oil minister added.

Last week, Brent and WTI rose 8.9% and 7.7%, respectively, on stepped-up U.S. and EU sanctions on Russia.

“There are likely some continued challenges for Russian oil to enter the market, but it depends on how sanctions will be enforced,” said Rystad analyst Janiv Shah.

The U.S. has formed a $1 billion partnership with Advanced Micro Devices to construct two supercomputers that will tackle large scientific problems ranging from nuclear power to cancer treatments to national security, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and AMD CEO Lisa Su told Reuters.

The U.S. is building the two machines to ensure the country has enough supercomputers to run increasingly complex experiments that require harnessing enormous amounts of data-crunching capability. The machines can accelerate the process of making scientific discoveries in areas the U.S. is focused on.

Energy Secretary Wright said the systems would “supercharge” advances in nuclear power and fusion energy, technologies for defense and national security, and the development of drugs. Scientists and companies are trying to replicate fusion, the reaction that fuels the sun, by jamming light atoms in a plasma gas under intense heat and pressure to release massive amounts of energy.

“We’ve made great progress, but plasmas are unstable, and we need to recreate the center of the sun on Earth,” Wright told Reuters.

“We’re going to get just massively faster progress using the computation from these AI systems that I believe will have practical pathways to harness fusion energy in the next two or three years.”

Wright said the supercomputers would also help manage the U.S. arsenal of nuclear weapons and accelerate drug discovery by simulating ways to treat cancer down to the molecular level.

“My hope is in the next five or eight years, we will turn most cancers, many of which today are ultimate death sentences, into manageable conditions,” Wright said.

The plans call for the first computer called Lux to be constructed and come online within the next six months. It will be based around AMD’s MI355X artificial intelligence chips, and the design will also include central processors (CPUs) and networking chips made by AMD. The system is co-developed by AMD, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

AMD’s Su said the Lux deployment was the fastest deployment of this size of computer that she has seen.

“This is the speed and agility that we wanted to [do] this for the U.S. AI efforts,” Su said.

ORNL Director Stephen Streiffer said the Lux supercomputer will deliver about three times the AI capacity of current supercomputers.

The second, more advanced computer called Discovery will be based around AMD’s MI430 series of AI chips that are tuned for high-performance computing. This system will be designed by ORNL, HPE and AMD. Discovery is expected to be delivered in 2028 and be ready for operations in 2029.

Streiffer said he expected enormous gains but couldn’t predict how much greater computational capability it would have.

The MI430 is a special variant of its MI400 series that combines important features of traditional supercomputing chips along with the features to run AI applications, Su said.

The Department of Energy will host the computers, the companies will provide the machines and capital spending, and both sides will share the computing power, a DOE official said.

The two supercomputers based on AMD chips are intended to be the first of many of these types of partnerships with private industry and DOE labs across the country, the official said.

Donald Trump says he won’t be meeting Prime Minister Mark Carney for some time after a falling-out between the two countries over an Ontario government TV ad that criticized the U.S. President’s protectionist tariffs.

Mr. Trump broke off trade talks with Canada over the ad and later announced he would boost punitive tariffs on Canadian imports by another 10 per cent after it ran during the first World Series game.

Both Mr. Carney and Mr. Trump attended the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Malaysia this weekend but did not meet.

The U.S. President spoke to reporters en route to Japan Monday, where he was asked whether he intended to meet the Canadian leader at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation Forum in South Korea this week.

“I don’t want to meet with him. I’m not going to be meeting with him for a long time,” Mr. Trump said.Video 2:23

U.S. President Donald Trump expressed confidence on Sunday over striking a trade agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping, whom he is expected to meet next week.

Reuters

Mr. Carney, speaking to reporters in Kuala Lumpur Monday, said he hasn’t spoken to Mr. Trump since the President on Thursday terminated trade negotiations.

The Prime Minister said Canada and the United States had made considerable progress in trade talks before these ended.

Canada has been negotiating with the United States for more than six months and has made concessions in the talks including scrapping a digital sales tax that would have hit U.S. tech giants and repealing retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods.

At a White House meeting with Mr. Carney earlier this month, Mr. Trump had even predicted Canada would be happy with the trade deal that resulted.

Carney says he will meet Chinese President Xi at APEC summit

Embattled at home, Trump eyes easy wins in Asia ahead of Xi meeting

Asked Monday how the relationship with the U.S. President eroded so quickly, and whether Mr. Trump is in fact toying with Canada, Mr. Carney said: “That’s a question for him.”

He said he remains ready to talk to Mr. Trump.

Mr. Carney said he has contingency plans if the United States refuses to resume negotiations but added he would not divulge them.

However, he said, part of the response is efforts in Europe as well as ASEAN, and later APEC, to shift trade away from the United States to more reliable partners. On Monday he signed a letter of intent with Malaysia to deepen investment in liquefied natural gas, oil, nuclear power and renewables. Mr. Carney said by the end of the decade Canada will be producing 50 million tonnes of LNG annually.

Plus, he said, the Nov. 4 federal budget will contain “generational investments” to build the Canadian economy and make it more resilient.Video 2:13

APEC has laid the groundwork for a more connected global economy and led to the establishment of regional and inter-regional trade agreements. But analysts say geopolitical tensions threaten the bloc and its long term agenda.

Reuters

Mr. Carney said the Americans have an incentive to strike a trade deal with Canada because it would be inefficient to replace Canadian imports. He said Canada supplies about 60 per cent of U.S. aluminum needs – an energy-intensive metal to produce – and it would be costly for the United States to replicate this. It would require the power of 10 Hoover dams in the United States at a time when U.S. firms need increasing amounts of energy for artificial intelligence processing.

On Thursday, citing the TV ad, the President terminated trade talks with Canada – negotiations Mr. Carney has been hoping would reduce a slew of protectionist tariffs imposed on Canadian goods since Mr. Trump took office.

Explainer: What you need to know about Ontario’s anti-tariff ad

On Saturday, Mr. Trump said he was hiking tariffs on Canadian imports by another 10 per cent after the TV ad critical of his protectionist levies ran during the first game of the World Series.

The 60-second spot uses footage from nearly 40 years ago of former U.S. president Ronald Reagan decrying American protectionism, saying such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer.Video 1:00

The Government of Ontario released this TV ad which will be broadcast in the U.S. that uses a recording of Ronald Reagan to argue against tariffs.

Government of Ontario

Mr. Trump, who has said the Ontario ad misrepresents Mr. Reagan’s comments, said he was raising tariffs by 10 per cent because Canada did not immediately stop running the ad, as he wanted.

The President has not yet issued any executive order to enforce the threatened 10-per-cent hike. It’s not clear if this new levy would apply to all Canadian imports or a selection of them. And he has announced no date for this increase.

Speaking to reporters Monday, Mr. Trump couldn’t say when the extra 10-per-cent tariff would take effect.

“I don’t know when it’s going to kick in. We’ll see,” the President said.

Carney tries to reassure Canadians after Trump threatens 10% tariff hike

After Mr. Trump said he would terminate trade talks, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, whose government paid for the ad campaign, said he would pull the ad after this weekend.

The ad is much shorter than Mr. Reagan’s original address. It is edited, with certain passages presented out of order.

In Mr. Reagan’s original speech, the former president defended imposing duties on Japan during a trade dispute over semiconductors. He alleged Tokyo was failing to penalize Japanese companies’ violations of a trade agreement with the U.S.

With reports from Laura Stone