Canada: TSX Closes August at Fresh Highs.

The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.2% to close at a fresh record of 28,565 on Friday and finished August up about 4.8% as a clean finish to big bank earnings and a miners rally combined to push the index higher. Major lenders including RBC and TD surprised with materially lower loan loss provisions and stronger capital markets and fee income which tightened credit spreads, freed capital for buybacks and dividends, and drew flows back into financials where index weight is concentrated. That corporate tailwind met a weaker macro backdrop after Statistics Canada reported Q2 real GDP contracted 0.4% quarter on quarter driven by export and business investment weakness, a print that pushed markets to price earlier Bank of Canada easing and compressed discount rates for rate sensitive equities. At the same time large mining names outperformed as gold raced to new highs. Agnico Eagle, Wheaton Precious, Barrick Mining, and Franco-Nevada added between 1.2% and 3.4%.