CHF WEEKLY ROUNDUP: October 19 - 23, 2026

On October 19, 1987, a market event now referred to as “Black Monday” occurred. That day, the TSX was down 11.3%, and the Dow fell 22.6%. Everything was down. This week was a not anywhere near that bad.  World shares were mixed overnight as oil prices held at their highest levels since May (war with Iran). European markets remained troubled by political instability, and the main indices were down. The Asian markets were recovering, except for Japan. Investors were retreating from global markets back to the U.S. AI stocks continued to be sold off on concerns about overspending on growth and worries about the sustainability of the AI investment boom, including whether there will be sufficient capital for everyone. Signs of a rotation out of the year’s winners were also detected. Tax planning may be in play, with gains being cashed in and losses being realized in the final quarter of the year. The global bond rout took a breather last week as cash coming out of shares found yields to be attractive. Accordingly, Treasury yields fell in major bond markets, led by the U.S., although debate over the U.S. Federal Reserve’s (Fed) next move continued.

The TSX remains up 13.5% year to date (YTD) and has recovered most of the value lost since the last round of tariffs. The taking of gains was clearly seen this week as high-value shares were being sold. The TSX Composite index is essentially flat this week. The actual numbers for the Canadian economy are sobering. The economy grew 0.8% from April to June. In July, growth dropped to zero. In August, the economy lost 42,000 more jobs. Longer-term trends are not encouraging, average incomes (GDP per person) have stagnated since 2019, taxes take the largest portion (42%) of the average family’s income, and Canada has the highest household debt to GDP in the G7. Governments talk a great deal about attracting investment, but it is not arriving. This week, Alberta voted on whether to start a process toward separation, and a wide majority rejected the proposal. The Bank of Canada (BoC) has not raised interest rates since July 2023 and has held rates steady for over a year. BoC Governor Macklem has recently warned it may need to raise borrowing costs if energy prices remain elevated. Odds of a 25-basis-point rate hike from the Bank of Canada next week are now quoted at 87%. Interest rate increases are a risk in a weak economy, as they will only slow it further rather than reduce energy-related prices.

U.S. equity markets opened to selling this morning; the S&P 500 and NASDAQ were already down one or two percent this week, and the Dow was down one percent at the open today as higher oil prices weighed on stocks. Investors have worried that AI companies are spending too much on data centers. These companies have needed debt funding and are driving up financing costs, making it hard to generate returns that justify their huge investments. Capital availability may now become a constraint on completing development. Fed interest rate changes on the eve of elections are tricky propositions, but it may not be possible to escape after a hot inflation reading. Futures markets continue to expect the Fed to hold rates steady in October, assigning only a 17% probability of an increase, yet many economists think it’s a 50/50 call next Wednesday. Oil and energy costs remain the primary drivers of inflation but are highly resistant to interest rates. The U.S. dollar (USD) has eased slightly down from its 18-month high.

Gold was relatively stable for most of October, but rate-hike concerns pushed it down to USD$4,007.70/oz this morning, near the lows from a year ago, when it was on the way up. Silver fell below USD$60/oz in mid-October and opened today at USD$53.20/oz. Platinum and palladium are also down year-to-date, and silver is underperforming gold at this point, as industrial demand works against it. Is this a buying opportunity in precious metals? November often sees gold rise as seasonal buying in Asia comes in. Central bank buying remains strong.

Most base and industrial metals declined this week and are down year-to-date, with copper holding on at USD$6.47/lb supported by data-center demand from the AI build-out. Copper supply is still expected to fall short of demand beginning in 2028, with the deficit widening to 3 million tonnes by 2035. Copper has been above USD$6/lb. since the end of June. Hopefully, miners' large profits will lead to greater investment in production cycles to address the projected supply issues.

Grassroots exploration, the search for entirely new deposits, fell to a record low of 21% of exploration budgets in 2025, while spending at existing mine sites reached a record 45%. Budgets for lithium, nickel and cobalt exploration fell 43% worldwide. In 2025, gold accounted for 75% of Canadian exploration expenditures, while every other critical mineral outside copper, nickel and zinc attracted just 3.9% combined. At the same time, discovery is becoming more difficult: the world now makes only 70 to 90 significant discoveries a year. Projects held by many critical-mineral developers remain too small for large institutional investors.

We are pleased to present our roundup of client news from October 19 to 23, 2026.

Mining

On October 19, 2026, Rocky Shore Gold Ltd. (CSE: RSG) (OTCQB: RSGLF) reported that additional assays from widely spaced drill holes at the Lane Pond Gold Target have identified antimony (Sb) in the newly named Lucky 13 Zone. The zone is associated with an 11.0-kilometre-long, district-scale airborne VTEM anomaly within the highly prospective Appleton Fault Corridor.

Ken Lapierre, P.Geo., President and CEO of Rocky Shore, commented, “The unexpected discovery of antimony, a critical mineral, is an exciting development. Widely spaced drilling at Lucky 13 has now intersected both gold and antimony. Higher-grade intervals include 4.00 metres grading 5.58 g/t Au_Eq (0.67 g/t Au, 1.62% Sb) within a 31.64-metre mineralized envelope grading 1.39 g/t Au_Eq (0.50 g/t Au, 0.30% Sb).”

On October 21, 2026, Rocky Shore Gold Ltd. (CSE: RSG) (OTCQB: RSGLF) announced that it has engaged the services of Independent Trading Group ("ITG") to provide market-making services in accordance with Canadian Securities Exchange (“CSE”) policies. ITG will trade shares of the Company on the CSE and all other trading venues with the objective of maintaining a reasonable market and improving the liquidity of the Company's common shares. The agreement commences on the date hereof and is for an initial term of one month and will renew for additional one-month terms unless terminated.

On October 22, 2026, Pirate Gold Corp. (TSXV: YARR) (OTCQB: YARRF) announced that it has closed its brokered private placement Offering. The Offering was conducted pursuant to an agency agreement between the Company, Canaccord Genuity Corp. and the syndicate of agents named therein. The overall Offering represents aggregate gross proceeds of $13,609,430.

The Company has issued:

(i) an aggregate of 48,277,000 flow-through common shares at a price of $0.215 per FT Share, for gross proceeds of $10,379,555; and

(ii) an aggregate of 13,050,000 special flow-through common shares at a price of $0.2475 per Special FT Share, for gross proceeds of $3,229,875,

All securities issued and issuable pursuant to the Offering are subject to a statutory hold period expiring on February 23, 2027.

Fintech

On October 18, 2026, Tenet Fintech Group Inc. (CSE: PKK) (OTCID: PKKFF) (FSE: P0T) announced that it has updated its corporate presentation to help investors better understand the Company's data centric business model and to reflect Tenet's most recent developments. The new presentation can be downloaded from the Investor Relations section of the Company's website here.

Tenet also announced it hired digital marketing agency, The Market Link, for a three-month investor awareness campaign as the Company prepares to launch the first commercial version of its economic intelligence product offering.

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