04:21 PM EDT, 08/29/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Canadian investors marched in to the Labour Day holiday weekend across North America by lifting the Toronto Stock Exchange to its sixth record close in seven sessions, even as National Bank says the Canadian economy "seems in dire need of a trade agreement" and suggests Bank of Canada can provide "a little extra help" while waiting for the federal government's budget plans.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 129.66 points, or 0.5% at 28,564.45, In beginning its record run over the last seven days, the index closed at 28,055.43 on Aug. 21. The first record close of the month came on August 5, at 27,570.88, near 1,000 points south of where the TSX stands now.

Ssectors were mixed, with Health Care, up 1.6%, the only one gaining more than 1%, while Info Tech was the biggest loser, down a modest 0.8%.

Among individual stocks, Laurentian Bank (LB.TO) fell 3.7% as it closed out the third-quarter earnings season for Canadian banks. The bank's shares were down even as its performance in lowering provision for credit losses drove a Q3 beat, reporting core cash EPS of $0.78 versus National Bank Financial's forecast of $0.70 and consensus of $0.73.

National Bank said Laurentian's outperformance this quarter was driven by $9 million of performing provision releases, adding $0.20 to EPS vs. National's estimates. But it added the provision release was at odds with other credit trends such as higher-than-expected loan losses as well as a 28% sequential increase in impaired formations. While loan growth exceeded expectations due to an increase in CRE balances, the bank expects "muted" growth for the next quarter, along with stable margins, National noted.

National kept an underperform rating on the bank's shares and lowered its target to $26.00 from $27.00.

Of commodities, gold traded at a record high late afternoon on Friday as the dollar weakened after a key U.S. inflation measure came in steady last month, meeting market expectations, but failing to dim hopes for coming interest-rate cuts. Gold for December delivery was seen up $41.60 to US$3.515.90 per ounce, above the July 22 record close of US$3,501.30.

But West Texas Intermediate crude oil closed lower ahead of the Labor Day weekend that marks the end of the high-demand U.S. driving season and the arrival on Monday of the final 548,000 barrel per day tranche of OPEC+'s 2.2-million bpd of production hikes. WTI crude oil for October delivery closed down $0.59 to settle at US$64.01 per barrel, while October Brent crude was las seen down $0.50 to US$68.12.

On the economics front, Statistics Canada early Friday released data showing nominal GDP pulled back 1.6% on an annualized basis in the second quarter, following a 0.5% increase in the first quarter and nine ticks lower than the consensus estimate calling for a 0.7% contraction in Q2. StatsCan also released an advance estimate for July showing growth of 0.1% in the month.

"Overall," said National Bank's Matthieu Arseneau and Kyle Dahms, "this morning's data does not change our view that the Canadian economy, already in excess supply, has experienced difficulties in the second quarter and will in the third. The downward revision of monthly GDP for June (preliminary was 0.1% and was revised to -0.1%) and the weak rebound in July lead us to believe that the economic weakness will continue into the third quarter. Moreover, yesterday's labor market data points to a widespread deterioration in the labor market ... which should limit consumption in Q3, especially as households grapple with an interest payment shock at current rate levels. This economy seems in dire need of a trade agreement to give businesses greater visibility. In the meantime, the Bank of Canada can provide a little extra help while waiting for the federal government's budget plans."

Also while looking ahead, David Doyle, head of economics at Macquarie Group, said there remain challenges that should weigh on growth in the near-term. Doyle noted monthly data showed a third consecutive GDP decline of -0.1% MoM in June, indicating a weak handoff effect. He said this marks a sharp reduction relative to the preliminary estimate and will weigh on estimates for Q3. Doyle also noted trade policy uncertainty remains elevated, despite PM Mark Carney's recent announcement that Canada would drop many of its retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. Additionally, the labour market remains weak, population growth continues to slow, and mortgage rate resets remain a challenge for housing activity, Doyle added.

"Beyond this," Doyle said, "there are causes for more optimism in 2026. The potential for an improvement in U.S. activity should have positive implications for Canada's business cycle, notwithstanding trade policy uncertainty." For the BoC ahead, Macquarie continues to project two further rate cuts of 25 bps each, with the most likely timing for these being in October and December.