HEADLINES

Unemployment Rate Drops to 6.5% in January as Fewer Look for Work

Canada's economy shed jobs for the first time in five months to kick off the year, though the unemployment rate still fell sharply as fewer people looked for work.

It is a soft start to the year for the labor market that in part reflects the federal government's efforts to curb once-booming immigration. The jobs figures from the national data agency also continue to show the pressure faced by industries directly exposed to the Trump administration's trade policy.

Employers in the country cut 24,800 jobs in January, Statistics Canada said. That followed an only modest 10,100 jobs added in the final month of last year, which itself represented a slowdown after employment climbed almost 200,000 over the three months to November.

Despite an unexpected drop in employment, the jobless rate fell to 6.5%, the lowest measure in 16 months, which more than rolled back the 0.2 percentage point advance in December. The rate is now down 0.6 point from the recent high of 7.1% recorded in August and September.

LG Energy to Take Full Ownership of Battery JV With Stellantis

Jeep maker Stellantis has agreed to sell its entire 49% stake in a Canada battery joint venture to its South Korean partner, LG Energy Solution.

The companies said that LG Energy Solution will acquire full ownership of NextStar Energy to better serve a broader customer base, including the energy storage system industry.

LG will buy Stellantis's stake for $100 on June 30, the battery maker said in a separate regulatory filing.

The value appears symbolic, given that LG had decided to invest $1.46 billion in the joint venture for a 51% stake, while Stellantis committed $980 million for the remaining share. LG said its investment is still under way.

Arc Resources Shares Fall as Underreporting Asset Removed from Outlook

Arc Resources shares fell after the company removed a stubbornly underperforming asset from its guidance, offsetting its fourth-quarter performance.

Shares fell 10.1% to C$22.83.

The Canadian oil and gas producer focused on the Montney said late Thursday that it is removing the guidance for its Attachie development project, from which the company said production has been variable and below expectations since it was brought on stream late last year.

While only representing about 7% of the company's production, TD Cowen analyst Aaron Bilkoski said in a report that the asset has lagged expectation for more than a year and has come under heavier investor scrutiny, offsetting a good performance in the final quarter of the year.

Open Text Shares Rise as Content Management Cloud Unit Props Revenue Above Views

Shares of Open Text climbed after the company reported better-than-expected revenue in the second quarter, driven by its content management cloud business.

Shares rose 9.7% to C$34.26.

The Canadian enterprise-software company late Thursday reported revenue that fell slightly, down by 0.6% at $1.33 billion. Revenue came in ahead of expectations, with Wall Street anticipating a decline to $1.3 billion, according to FactSet.

Cloud revenues rose 3.4% to $478 million, while enterprise cloud bookings rose 18% to $295 million.

Bitfarms Shares Climb on Approved Plan to Redomicile to the U.S.

Bitfarms shares surged after the company said it has approved a plan to redomicile to the U.S. from Canada with the aim of securing new sources of capital in the country.

Shares jumped 25.3% to C$2.92.

The Toronto-based digital infrastructure and energy company said that its board has approved a plan of arrangement for the redomicile of the business. The arrangement comes after a comprehensive strategic review process that has been in process for the past year.

Canopy Growth Third-Quarter Loss Narrows as Canadian Market Strength Props Up Revenue

Canopy Growth's fiscal third-quarter loss narrowed as stronger results from its Canadian market helped offset revenue declines in other markets and segments.

The Canadian cannabis company posted a narrowed net loss of C$62.6 million, or C$0.18 a share, for the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with a wider loss of C$121.9 million, or C$1.11 a share, in the comparable quarter a year earlier.

Canopy Growth shares fell 0.7% to C$1.51.

Capstone Copper Reaches Agreement With Union Group in Chile Ending Strike

Capstone Copper said it has its Chilean mine workers union has ratified a multi-year collective agreement, ending a month-long strike.

The Canadian base-metals mining company said late Thursday that Union #2 at the Mantoverde Mine in Chile has ratified a new three-year collective bargaining agreement.

Union #2 was the last of four labor groups the company needed to reach a deal with, ending a strike that began on Jan. 2. Capstone said it is now working to ramp the Mantoverde mine back to full output after operating at roughly half its normal production during the monthlong stoppage.

K92 Mining Contractor Dies in Surface Incident

K92 Mining said a contractor supporting roadwork activities at its Papua New Guinea operations died from surface incident.

The mining company said that an investigation is being launched after the contracted worker died from a fatal injury near its Kumian Creek Contractor Camp located near its plant and mine.

K92 said it has temporarily paused the contractor's activities at the site to facilitate this process, adding that the incident isn't expected to have any effect on processing and mining, nor on the project construction timelines

TALKING POINT

Failed Rio Tinto-Glencore Talks Show Big Copper Deals Are Hard to Do

By Rhiannon Hoyle

The collapse of deal talks between Rio Tinto and Glencore underscores the challenge facing miners as they vie for dominance in copper, a metal essential to powering artificial intelligence and electric cars.

The two companies spent weeks trying to agree on a deal that could have created not only the largest mining company globally, but potentially the world's biggest copper producer. Those talks came to nothing as differences on price couldn't be bridged.

"The outcome reinforces a high bar for large-scale copper M&A across the diversified miners," RBC Capital Markets analyst Kaan Peker wrote in a note to clients after talks ended.

Mining executives have re-embraced dealmaking as a way to potentially fast-track growth in copper. Building new copper mines is becoming more difficult and costly, as deposits get deeper, lower grade and, in some places, face community opposition.

Meantime, concerns about future supply have intensified, propelling copper prices to an all-time high.

Data centers, which house the infrastructure supporting the boom in AI and cloud computing, contain a lot of copper and need a huge amount of copper-intensive power infrastructure to operate. Electric vehicles and wind farms also use copper in much greater quantities than gasoline-powered cars and coal-fired power plants.

BHP Group, which tried unsuccessfully to buy Anglo American to cement itself as the world's biggest copper producer, expects copper demand to increase by 70% by 2050.

"Large-scale diversified mergers are simply too complex and too pro-cyclical to clear at current copper prices, unless there is significant asset/group synergies to justify," Peker said. He thinks future dealmaking may center on asset purchases and partnerships instead.

One deal that has gained support is a planned merger of Anglo and Teck Resources, which includes significant benefits from combining some neighboring operations in Chile. That deal was signed off by each of the companies' shareholders late last year.

Glencore had previously itself bid for Teck and ended up acquiring its steelmaking coal business in 2024.

There are plenty of reasons why mining megadeals are tough to agree, said Jefferies analyst Christopher LaFemina.

"Large mergers in mining are difficult to pull off due to cultural issues, regulatory constraints, and many other complexities," he said. "These challenges are exacerbated by heightened geopolitical risks, especially in a world where critical minerals have become a top priority national security concern for the U.S., China and other regions."

He said a BHP-Anglo American deal would have made sense, and that there was a strategic rationale for Rio Tinto and Glencore to combine, too.

Glencore owns a stake in the Collahuasi mine in Chile, one of the world's richest copper deposits, as well as several other copper mines, smelters and refineries globally. Rio Tinto's copper business includes the Kennecott mine in Utah and a long-delayed project in Arizona that could supply a quarter of U.S. demand of the industrial metal when it starts up.

"I was disappointed that they didn't get the deal done," Wilson Asset Management portfolio manager Matthew Haupt said. Two of Haupt's funds hold Rio Tinto shares.

"The more work I did on it, the more I thought: Oh, what a great opportunity for the two companies to come together," Haupt said. "The combined group, you'd go: It's good for the next 20 years."

Still, Haupt said Rio Tinto was right not to overpay. Glencore was seeking a deal that would have given its shareholders about 40% of the combined company, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Shares in Rio Tinto ended little changed in Sydney on Friday, despite a retreat in mining stocks more broadly.

Under U.K. rules, Rio can't pursue Glencore for at least six months, except in specific circumstances, such as a rival suitor emerging.

"No doubt they will come back again in the next couple of years," he said. The pair previously discussed combining as recently as 2024. "It just looks like the timing wasn't completely right to get it done at this time."

Write to Rhiannon Hoyle at [rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com]

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February 06, 2026 16:30 ET (21:30 GMT)

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