The 2026 FIFA World Cup has officially started with games spanning cities across North America, drawing spectators from all over the world. But as it creates buzz, it won't distract from the headwinds still facing Canada’s economy.

In Q1, gross domestic product contracted by a small annualized 0.1% to mark a second consecutive decline. However, the contraction is marginal and narrow—not the kind of sharp, persistent, and broad-based deterioration typical of recessions in the past.

The World Cup in coming months will give Canada's economy a temporary lift. In this episode of the 10-Minute Take, RBC Economics' Claire Fan and Carrie Freestone break down Canada's underlying economic trends as FIFA games gets underway.

U.S. headline inflation just posted its hottest print in nearly three years, driven by surging energy prices and sticky core inflation pressures.

At the same time, labour market data is looking solid, and growth hasn’t meaningfully slowed. We have yet to see signs of Stagflation Lite materializing, and don’t expect the oil price shock will tip the economy into a recession.

In this episode of the 10-Minute Take, RBC Economics’ Carrie Freestone and Claire Fan explain:

• Whether hot US inflation is purely an energy story—or if pressures are building beneath the surface.
• Why the Fed stays put even as the labour market holds up.
• What it would take from a jobs’ perspective to trigger a recession in the U.S.—and why it’s unlikely.

Softening in Canada’s headline labour market data this year masks a more encouraging underlying story.

Job losses remain concentrated in tariff-exposed sectors, layoffs are declining, and hiring is beginning to rebound—all signs of resilience beneath the surface.

In this episode of the 10-Minute Take, RBC Economics' Claire Fan and Carrie Freestone discuss:

• What hidden unemployment means and whether it's rising.
• How "low hire, low fire" dynamics disproportionately affect younger job seekers.
• Why labour supply is expected to tighten as hiring demand recovers later in 2026.