Merck reported second-quarter revenue of US$16.61 billion, up 5% year on year and above the US$16.36 billion analysts expected, with Keytruda sales rising 5% to US$8.37 billion. The company posted a quarterly loss of 13 cents per share after a US$2.31 per share charge tied to its acquisition of Terns Pharmaceuticals. Animal health revenue rose 8% to US$1.78 billion, slightly ahead of expectations.

Caterpillar raised its 2026 revenue growth target after reporting second-quarter revenue of US$20.54 billion, up 24% year on year. Adjusted earnings came in at US$8.17 per share, well above the market expectation of US$6.20 per share, while its order backlog hit a record US$72.1 billion and North America construction equipment revenue jumped 50%. As a S&P 500 constituent and an industrial bellwether, the results reinforced optimism around economic resilience and the earnings outlook for cyclical stocks, indirectly supporting the S&P 500 index.

Enbridge reported second-quarter adjusted earnings of 63 Canadian cents per share, beating the 59 Canadian cents analysts had expected. Adjusted core profit from its Mainline system rose to C$1.57 billion, up 4.7% from a year earlier. Mainline is North America’s largest crude oil pipeline system, moving nearly half of the crude in the United States while also transporting natural gas liquids and refined products from Edmonton, Alberta, to markets in Canada and the U.S. Midwest.

The Canadian federal government said it will invest C$1.957 billion to replace 45 aging Via Rail locomotives and build new assembly and maintenance facilities. Of that, C$1.6 billion is earmarked for new locomotives—nine to be made in Spain and 36 to be assembled in Canada—and C$357 million for the plant. The move aims to address Via Rail’s long-running on-time performance issues, which fell to 30% in the first quarter of 2025, with the new trains expected to enter service by 2031.

Procter & Gamble (PG) issued fiscal 2027 guidance projecting total net sales growth of 1%–3%, slowing from 3.3% in fiscal 2026 and slightly below the analyst median of 2.7%. The company guided to adjusted earnings per share of $6.89–$7.11, with the midpoint a bit under the market expectation of $7.04. P&G also reiterated it expects roughly $1 billion of profit pressure in fiscal 2027 from higher raw material, energy and transportation costs driven by surging oil prices. Premium personal care volumes rose 3% while pricing stayed broadly stable.

WEC Energy Group said second-quarter net income rose to US$299.2 million, up nearly 22% from a year earlier, helped by higher electricity sales to commercial and industrial customers. Operating revenue increased 2.6% to US$2.06 billion, slightly above expectations, while earnings were 91 cents per share. The utility reaffirmed its 2026 earnings forecast of US$5.51 to US$5.61 per share.

IBM reported quarterly results with profit and revenue coming in well below market expectations. CEO Arvind Krishna said he did not anticipate the magnitude of customers’ capital-spending reprioritization toward AI hardware. The miss has raised concerns about how quickly IBM can adapt its business model in an AI-driven market and what that means for its longer-term competitiveness. The article does not cite any substantive price catalysts related to other traditional assets.

BMO Chief FX Strategist Mark McCormick said a stronger U.S. economy and expectations that the Federal Reserve could raise rates as early as September, or even July, are lifting the U.S. dollar and weighing on the Canadian dollar. He added that as central banks scale back forward guidance, markets are becoming more data-dependent, reinforcing demand for the greenback. McCormick said the loonie could slide to around 69 U.S. cents, according to BNN Bloomberg.

Canada’s S&P/TSX composite index fell 148.11 points to 34,779.27 in early trading, pressured by a sharp drop in oil prices. The August crude oil contract slid US$3.46 to US$69.75 per barrel after progress in U.S.-Iran talks toward a permanent end to their war and rising traffic through the Strait of Hormuz eased supply-disruption concerns. Energy and base metal shares were among the laggards, while gold and the three main U.S. stock indexes moved higher, indicating a shift toward risk assets.