Canada:
Housing & retail:
- Home sales dropped 4.8% MoM, and 9.3% YoY
- Retail sales fell 0.4% in February
A breakthrough for retail investors:
Franklin Templeton, one of the world’s largest asset managers, has opened the door to private debt investing for the Canadian public.
In partnership with Lexington Partners, the firm launched an innovative fund providing individual investors with direct access to private credit and secondary market strategies — a space traditionally reserved for institutional capital.
The fund offers broad diversification, professional management, and a low entry threshold, marking a significant milestone in the democratization of private debt in Canada.
- Sagard acquired a stake in BEX Capital to expand its role in the secondary private credit market.
- Bitfarms secured up to $300M from Macquarie to fund a new data center project.
- Rogers Communications raised CAD 7B in equity, led by Blackstone, to reduce leverage and strengthen its balance sheet.
Why It Matters
Private debt is no longer the exclusive domain of pension funds and institutions.
Today, individual investors are gaining access to this once-closed market — and AppGear Capital is at the forefront of this transformation.
At AppGear, we actively integrate private credit strategies into the portfolios of retail clients, making alternative investments like private debt available to a much wider audience.
We see it as a key tool for long-term financial growth, offering stable, uncorrelated returns and meaningful portfolio diversification.
In the coming days
The U.S. is expected to move forward this week with new tariff agreements involving several countries, including Canada.
These developments aim to ease trade tensions and could help restore market confidence by bringing greater predictability and stability to the global economic landscape.
Economic Headwinds
Trade tensions intensify: Mark Carney was elected Prime Minister, promising to confront the U.S. over 25% tariffs imposed by President Trump. A key meeting between the two leaders is expected this week in Washington.
- GDP shrank by 0.2% in February
- Q1 growth forecast revised down to 1.5%
- Unemployment rose to 6.7%, with a loss of 33,000 jobs
- Inflation eased to 2.3%, interest rate held at 2.75%
M&A headline: U.S. firm Sunoco acquired Canada’s Parkland in a $9.1B deal, forming the largest independent fuel distributor in the Americas.
Canadian Stock Market Performance
- S&P/TSX Composite – 🟢 +1.30%
- S&P/TSX 60 – 🟢 +1.25%
- S&P/TSX Venture – 🔴 -0.50%
United States:
Strong Market Rally and Balanced Jobs Report
Labor market update:
April’s non-farm payrolls added 177,000 jobs, exceeding expectations (138,000) but down from March (185,000). The data is seen as balanced – strong enough to calm recession fears, yet moderate enough not to reignite inflation.
Market performance:
- S&P 500 – 🟢 +2.92%
- Nasdaq – 🟢 +3.45%
- Dow Jones – 🟢 +3.00%
- 10Y Treasury Yield – 🟢 +1.25% → 4.3%
This Week’s Hot News–Microsoft (MSFT):
The stock surged 11% following strong quarterly results:
- EPS of $3.46, revenue of $70.07B
- Azure cloud grew 33%, with 16% attributed to AI services
- AI infrastructure investments up 53%
- Business software and LinkedIn grew 10%, Windows and hardware rose 6%
- Forward guidance (up to $74.25B) exceeded expectations, easing fears about Trump’s new tariff policy