IPO Momentum, Small Caps & Sector Rotation | The Market this Month (June 2026)

1 - > SPEAKER_00: The Canadian Securities Exchange presents 2 - > your go-to source for trends in junior and small cap markets. 3 - > Each month, join host Anna Sarin, and financial expert 4 - > Bruce Campbell, in partnership with Stockers. 5 - > SPEAKER_02: Welcome to the June 2026 edition of the Market This 6 - > Month. 7 - > I'm Anna Sarin, Director of Listings Development with the 8 - > Canadian Securities Exchange, and today we're taking a closer 9 - > look at what's been driving markets over the past few weeks, 10 - > particularly through the lens of Canadian public companies and 11 - > the junior capital markets.

12 - > As we move into June, investors continue to navigate a 13 - > fascinating mix of improving sentiment, persisting economic 14 - > uncertainty, and renewed appetite for capital formation. 15 - > While volatility remains a defining feature of the market 16 - > environment, investors are increasingly looking ahead to 17 - > opportunities that may emerge in the second half of 2026. 18 - > This past month, markets reacted to several significant 19 - > developments. 20 - > Geopolitical tensions eased following progress towards 21 - > ceasefire agreements in key regions, helping to stabilize 22 - > investor sentiment.

23 - > Earnings season delivered a mixed but generally constructive 24 - > picture, with many companies demonstrating resilience despite 25 - > ongoing concerns around inflation and interest rates. 26 - > At the same time, spikes in the VIX reminded investors that 27 - > uncertainty remains very much a part of today's investment 28 - > landscape. 29 - > Despite these challenges, capital continues to flow into 30 - > the market. 31 - > Here at the CSC, we were pleased to welcome several new issuers 32 - > to the exchange, including Yocal.

ai, bringing innovative 33 - > AI-powered business solutions to the public markets, as well as 34 - > three resource-focused companies, Pure Core Metals, 35 - > Flow Capital Corp., and Atlantico Energy Corp. 36 - > The financing market also remained active, demonstrating 37 - > that investors continue to support compelling growth 38 - > stories and quality management teams. 39 - > Recent financings included LaFleur Minerals$11 million bot 40 - > deal financing, Cresco Labs securing U.

S. 41 - > $50 million Revolving Credit Facility, Apex Critical Metals 42 - > closing a$15 million life financing, Max Power completing 43 - > a$25 million strategic investment from Eric Sprott, and 44 - > Formation Metals closing an upsize$22.4 million private 45 - > placement to accelerate its exploration program. 46 - > Taken together, these transactions suggest that while 47 - > investors remain selective, the financing window remains open 48 - > for companies with strong assets, clear catalysts, and 49 - > disciplined execution.

50 - > So what does all of this mean for investors today? 51 - > We'll discuss whether the recent resurgence in IBO activity 52 - > signals a broader reopening of the capital markets. 53 - > While recent volatility may tell us about the longer-term outlook 54 - > and which sectors appear best positioned as inflation, 55 - > interest rates, and economic growth continue to shape 56 - > investment decisions. 57 - > We'll also take a closer look at the current outlook for precious 58 - > metals, base metals, energy, and technology, along with the 59 - > seasonal trends investors should be watching as we head into the 60 - > summer months.

61 - > To help us break it all down, I'm joined once again by my 62 - > co-host, Bruce Campbell, Portfolio Manager with 63 - > Stonecastle Investment Management. 64 - > All right, Bruce. 65 - > Well, listen, thank you for joining us for our June 2026 66 - > episode of The Market This Month. 67 - > Unfortunately, we are virtual today and not in person, but I 68 - > think we're going to have you out in Vancouver next month.

69 - > So I look forward to seeing you again next month in person. 70 - > Um, let's dive right into it. 71 - > Um what we've seen over the past month uh in May and early part 72 - > of June was a large number um of IPOs, both in Canada and the US. 73 - > What does this tell us about what's going on in the markets 74 - > and uh maybe investor sentiment?

75 - > SPEAKER_01: Well, we certainly have seen a lot of IPOs, both 76 - > ones that have been listed and ones that are in the works for 77 - > listing. 78 - > The uh the we're recording this just before the SpaceX IPO is uh 79 - > going to be coming public, and that's gonna have a lot of 80 - > attention because it's the biggest IPO that we've ever seen 81 - > in history. 82 - > And then we also have uh Anthropic and Open AI as well in 83 - > the works. 84 - > And then even in Canada here, Canada's joined uh joined the 85 - > IPO train in that uh we saw Apatex, which is the healthcare 86 - > company, um, they went public as well.

87 - > So we've seen a lot of really big IPOs. 88 - > And I guess this really comes back to what we've a trend we've 89 - > been talking about now for probably close to a year, which 90 - > was this trend of seeing more um fundraising and more uh 91 - > financings happening on all levels. 92 - > It started really small going back probably about 18 months 93 - > ago now, where we just saw, you know, some of these life 94 - > offerings happening, and they were kind of the$10 million 95 - > range, and then they started getting upsized and they got 96 - > bigger and bigger, and then we saw some other financings, and 97 - > and now we're seeing these monster financings.

98 - > So the risk appetite and the interest in new companies has 99 - > really evolved here. 100 - > SPEAKER_02: I mean, uh it's so exciting. 101 - > These really big names that we see come to market. 102 - > I think there's they're such a good branding, maybe for 103 - > investing in the markets in general.

104 - > I feel like the SpaceX is on even non-investors' minds. 105 - > So it's always great when we see these big ones. 106 - > You know, the CSC has never gotten off the IPO train. 107 - > We've we've, you know, in good markets and bad, we consistently 108 - > see companies come to us, some smaller than others.

109 - > You know, sometimes we see more in the resource sector. 110 - > But, you know, one thing that we're seeing at the CSC, which 111 - > um is really exciting to me for the first time I've seen in 112 - > quite a long time, is this IPO within the tech sector. 113 - > Wouldn't you say this is a bit of an anomaly to see this much 114 - > tech coming to market? 115 - > SPEAKER_01: Yeah, certainly in the last probably, I would 116 - > almost say decade in Canada.

117 - > Prior to that, you did see, you did see smaller new emerging 118 - > companies that you know were under that billion dollars that 119 - > were coming public in Canada, but it really hasn't, we haven't 120 - > seen that in in probably close to 10 years now. 121 - > It's really been dominated by other sectors. 122 - > So it is great to see because we saw the Canadian market really 123 - > get hollowed out. 124 - > A lot of those companies that you know maybe started as a 25 125 - > or 50 or 100 million dollar company started to grow, and 126 - > then they were getting taken out in that 500 to a billion dollar 127 - > range after they'd been operating and profitable.

128 - > That happened over, you know, probably the last uh, you know, 129 - > going back 10 years to probably going back five years, we saw a 130 - > lot of that hollowing out, and now this is nice because we're 131 - > seeing new technologies emerge. 132 - > Canada has been a you know fairly decent hub for technology 133 - > for sure. 134 - > And now we're getting that um those new companies coming to 135 - > market and it creates amazing opportunities for investors who 136 - > want to dig around and find out what's happening.

137 - > SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, you know, the exciting part from my 138 - > perspective, and and you know, kind of watching companies come 139 - > to market on the CSC is typically we'll see the more 140 - > startup and growth companies that come to our market at the 141 - > CSC. 142 - > The exciting part of that is that they get an opportunity to 143 - > grow, access that public capital by being a public vehicle, um, 144 - > and have the ability to grow kind of as an investor, you get 145 - > to be part of that upside opportunity.

146 - > You know, SpaceX is a little bit more of a uh liquidity exercise, 147 - > wouldn't you say? 148 - > So, you know, it's it's this opportunity when we see these 149 - > growth companies coming to market for investors to get to 150 - > participate in it and for these companies to be able to access 151 - > the public markets, as opposed to the maybe the more 152 - > traditional um, you know, uh uh venture market or private equity 153 - > market um that the uh tech companies would typically um you 154 - > know go down that road for.

155 - > SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean that's the beauty of what we're seeing 156 - > right now is that you know, you think about the SpaceXs or the 157 - > Anthropics or the Open AI, those are these monster private equity 158 - > companies that have been funded privately. 159 - > And it hasn't really allowed most investors the opportunity 160 - > to get involved. 161 - > Whereas if we're seeing um companies coming public on a on 162 - > an exchange like the CSE and they're you know in that smaller 163 - > intermediate size company size-wise or snack bracket, that 164 - > allows investors of of all varieties to get access to it 165 - > because they can invest in those shares publicly.

166 - > Whereas the private equity is really for the let's let's be 167 - > honest, like really for that kind of elite group of of people 168 - > who have access to it. 169 - > So it's it's really great from an investor standpoint because 170 - > it just gives you more access to to uh to and to different 171 - > investment ideas and uh different different sectors as 172 - > well. 173 - > SPEAKER_02: Absolutely. 174 - > Um, you know, I I want to just kind of ask you one more 175 - > question on this before we move along, is you talk about some of 176 - > the IPOs that are coming out of the states.

177 - > One thing I noticed when we were taking a look at some of the 178 - > financings on the CSC specifically, over the past six 179 - > months, I'd say there's some really big uh financings that 180 - > are happening to our issuers from across the border. 181 - > So we're certainly not seeing a loss of sentiment from US 182 - > investors coming up to Canada. 183 - > Is that something you're seeing as well? 184 - > SPEAKER_01: It sure is, yeah.

185 - > We, you know, if you go back again 24 months ago, we were 186 - > just kind of this island all left by our own on our own. 187 - > And if we were doing any financings, it was really, you 188 - > know, Canadian-centric. 189 - > And now we are seeing that where a lot of companies that are 190 - > doing financings, they're doing them, you know, publicly, and 191 - > you're seeing access um from US investors. 192 - > But they're also you're seeing, you know, a number of private 193 - > placements that are happening where the investors are US 194 - > investors into a public company in Canada, but they're doing it 195 - > on a private basis as US investors, which is great to see 196 - > as well.

197 - > SPEAKER_02: I love this. 198 - > I love this. 199 - > Okay. 200 - > Now, on the note of all of this amazing stuff coming to market, 201 - > it doesn't mean that we're not experiencing some notable spike 202 - > in volatility.

203 - > Um, so when you look at these types of events, historically, 204 - > what should investors be paying attention to as the market moves 205 - > forward? 206 - > What does this volatility tell you? 207 - > SPEAKER_01: I mean, we we haven't really seen something 208 - > like this happen before. 209 - > And so as a result, and when I say that, I'm talking about the 210 - > size of the IPOs.

211 - > So for instance, SpaceX is good, SpaceX is going to be the 212 - > biggest in history to date. 213 - > There, you know, potentially could be a bigger one down the 214 - > road, but you know, maybe we have to wait for that. 215 - > But when you see that happen, there's been a bunch of 216 - > volatility created, specifically in the technology sector, around 217 - > that, because now you have investors who are trying to fund 218 - > their investment into SpaceX. 219 - > So when they announce that they're going public and then 220 - > they start pricing it and they start putting out allocations, 221 - > well, then at that point in time, investors need to take 222 - > capital and put it into SpaceX.

223 - > And maybe they have the capital sitting aside in in cash, but a 224 - > lot of times they don't. 225 - > So it means they have to liquidate something else to move 226 - > into SpaceX. 227 - > And with the massive size that they're that they're doing and 228 - > and the raise, it really um it really creates more volatility 229 - > because you have people who are trading out of different stocks 230 - > to raise and that money to go into these different IPOs. 231 - > Historically, when we've seen this type of volatility, like 232 - > again, we're recording this just before the SpaceX is um is going 233 - > public, and we've seen a few days where the volatility index 234 - > has had this these massive spikes up where they're you know 235 - > 20, 30 percent higher on a day.

236 - > And that historically, you know, has been um a long-term positive 237 - > for markets. 238 - > You don't tend to see that volatility spike up and stay up. 239 - > It tends to spike up, it stays there for a little while, and 240 - > then when it subsides, that's when the markets really start to 241 - > move. 242 - > So if you look at the shorter term, anywhere, you know, from 243 - > one week to probably two months, it's it's always kind of you 244 - > know, just pure guessing to know where the market's gonna go 245 - > because you know so many factors come into play.

246 - > But if you look at the longer term, sort of six months, year 247 - > out from those volatility spikes, they tend to be really 248 - > good for returns. 249 - > SPEAKER_02: Okay, okay, good to know. 250 - > Um, I I don't know if you know this number, but how much is 251 - > SpaceX raising as part of their IPO? 252 - > SPEAKER_01: It's not a lot of total dollars, like in relation 253 - > to their IPO size.

254 - > So they're they're um they're they're um gonna value it at 1.8 255 - > trillion and they're raising, and I know when I say this 256 - > number, it's gonna sound ridiculous that I just said it 257 - > wasn't a big number, but they're raising, I think, around 75 258 - > billion is what they targeted, but it's oversubscribed, so they 259 - > probably take more than that, would be my guess. 260 - > So I mean that's pretty big. 261 - > And then if you look at some of the other things that have 262 - > happened, you know, Google's announced that they're gonna 263 - > raise around 80 billion.

264 - > We have anthropic and open AI, which probably come in around 265 - > the same range, maybe more. 266 - > You're looking at half a trillion dollars probably with 267 - > those four companies alone. 268 - > Uh, we talk about these trillion dollar companies, but still, you 269 - > know,$500 billion is a lot of money. 270 - > And, you know, so that's um, you know, that has an impact on the 271 - > markets for sure.

272 - > SPEAKER_02: Absolutely. 273 - > And I think just to remind our audience, you know, a lot of 274 - > that money, especially these types of IPOs, they're gonna be 275 - > a little bit more um later stage investors. 276 - > They're gonna be funds that are are a bit more um traditional 277 - > and senior. 278 - > And so when they're removing, when they're wanting to invest 279 - > in the tech sector, they're gonna be rebalancing the 280 - > portfolio.

281 - > So they're probably gonna sell from the tech sector to buy in 282 - > the tech sector. 283 - > So as you were explaining before, that's where perhaps a 284 - > lot of this volatility is coming from because they're not just 285 - > going to necessarily take their cash allotment or something from 286 - > the resource or energy. 287 - > They're probably going to be moving funds around within the 288 - > asset allocation that they currently have specifically for 289 - > tech, right?

290 - > SPEAKER_01: Yeah, especially given the performance that we've 291 - > seen in the tech sector. 292 - > You know, it has really been performing for the last three 293 - > years. 294 - > So most investors probably have gains embedded in there. 295 - > They also probably have uh, you know, a fairly good exposure to 296 - > that sector as the performance has been strong.

297 - > And if they held their position or even trimmed their position, 298 - > it's growing in size. 299 - > So they, you know, typically are harvesting from that area so 300 - > that they don't get overexposed to the technology sector. 301 - > SPEAKER_02: Awesome. 302 - > Well, um, all of this is very exciting to me, and I do love to 303 - > see it.

304 - > Do you think that there's um, you know, not that you'd have 305 - > data on this, but do you think there's also an added interest 306 - > in the space just because maybe the the next generation of 307 - > investor understands the tech sector a little bit differently 308 - > and they're a bit more engaged with it? 309 - > I mean, we I feel like we're always struggling to engage a 310 - > younger audience to the mining and resource sector, but do you 311 - > think there's a more natural fit and interest from an investor 312 - > that's perhaps younger to the tech side?

313 - > SPEAKER_01: I would agree 100% that that's the case. 314 - > You know, if you look at our kids or um anyone that, you 315 - > know, is sort of under the age of probably 80 years old, they 316 - > adopt tech way more than someone who over was over that age and 317 - > they understand it. 318 - > Maybe not every single piece of it, but they use it extensively 319 - > in their life. 320 - > It's not that we don't use commodities in our life, but we 321 - > probably just second nature it in that you know, we don't think 322 - > about you know what what's involved with the raw materials 323 - > that were needed for the production of um certain 324 - > products that we use.

325 - > But technology, we see it, plus it evolves and it has, you know, 326 - > as it evolves, it catches people's interest. 327 - > So you think back to this whole AI five years ago, most of us 328 - > really kind of weren't too aware of what impact AI would 329 - > eventually have. 330 - > We, of course, saw the science fiction movies that that talked 331 - > about it, but we didn't know what it would do for us in our 332 - > life. 333 - > And now, as those technologies come on board, if you're again a 334 - > younger, you know, generation investor, you adopt those 335 - > technologies quickly and you understand them.

336 - > And then that you know piques your interest to invest where 337 - > you like to go. 338 - > It's the Peter Lynch analogy, right? 339 - > Like invest in what you know. 340 - > SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.

341 - > Absolutely. 342 - > Okay, um, moving along, um, we haven't talked as I think we 343 - > always touched on this a bit, but we haven't talked as much 344 - > about it um in a while. 345 - > There was a period of time, it's all we talked about, but uh 346 - > let's let's break down what we're seeing in inflation and 347 - > interest rates um and and earnings. 348 - > So let's just talk about what you're seeing there and and how 349 - > that's affecting the market.

350 - > SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so just over the last um you know, four or 351 - > five months, we've seen a move back up in inflation. 352 - > And uh part of that's clearly been caused by what's happened 353 - > with oil prices due to the conflict in in um in the Middle 354 - > East, and that's you know driven driven inflation higher. 355 - > As that inflation's been driven higher, we've seen interest 356 - > rates moving higher as well. 357 - > Higher interest rates have historically been harder on 358 - > commodities than not.

359 - > I mean, there's certainly commodities that that uh track 360 - > inflation, but as a result, we have seen just over the last 361 - > three months here now, we've seen a little bit more pressure 362 - > on gold and silver, something that if we go back a year ago or 363 - > even to February probably wasn't something that we were talking 364 - > about at all. 365 - > And then we've also seen some acceleration in um the price of 366 - > copper and some of the other base metals as that inflation 367 - > has happened and there's you know continual rollout in tech, 368 - > those products are those commodities are needed, and 369 - > we've seen inflation pushing up the price to actually produce 370 - > those commodities.

371 - > So we've seen that uh happen. 372 - > So we've a bit of a a seesaw here with uh with what we've 373 - > seen from commodity prices. 374 - > So some of the ones that were leading have you know taken a 375 - > back seat, and some of the ones that were lagging are now in the 376 - > driver's seat. 377 - > SPEAKER_02: I mean, to me, it seems nice to to see things uh 378 - > you know funneling through and everyone getting a moment to to 379 - > shine, you know, where um uh I mean I just I'm amazed at what 380 - > we've seen in the resource sector on the on the um uh uh 381 - > CSC side of things.

382 - > We've been seeing this kind of momentum for some time. 383 - > And you kind of come up to PDAC as part of the year and you kind 384 - > of expect that momentum. 385 - > Um you see a lot of capital raising. 386 - > We saw some really good oversubscribed um financings 387 - > that were done within the resource sector, but it seems to 388 - > keep going, um, which is nice to see.

389 - > And is that something that you expect? 390 - > SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, we have to bring it all back into 391 - > perspective, right? 392 - > You know, when I talk about gold being down, you know, topped out 393 - > at$5,500 an ounce, and it's you know, kind of in that low 4,000s 394 - > now, but where was it a few years ago? 395 - > You know, it was in the two, it had a two at the very front.

396 - > So projects that were nowhere near being economic before now 397 - > are, and with the capital markets open, it really provides 398 - > a stimulus for projects to be done and uh and a lot more 399 - > economics in uh in some of the projects that have sort of 400 - > higher commodity prices as far as pulling them out of the 401 - > ground. 402 - > SPEAKER_02: I was speaking to an issuer actually just last week, 403 - > and they were talking about their project, which um, you 404 - > know, the last time it was uh the last time it was in 405 - > operations um is when gold prices were at 400.

406 - > So the the economics of that project, you know, they made 407 - > sense and then they stopped when when they when the price of gold 408 - > was at 400, the economics just weren't there for them to keep 409 - > moving forward. 410 - > So now I think there's a lot of projects out there where people 411 - > are starting to pay attention to them again, going, well, at 412 - > $4,000, the economics um are certainly there. 413 - > So there's some opportunity of maybe some projects that were 414 - > sleeping for a little while that uh are coming back to life.

415 - > SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I mean that's what I see. 416 - > When you go through slide decks or presentations from companies, 417 - > a lot of them have their resource estimates based on a 418 - > lot lower um commodity prices. 419 - > And I'm not saying that that's not built into the stock price, 420 - > the higher commodity prices, but you know, when you look at just 421 - > the pure economics of what they thought was feasible to go 422 - > through the capital raise project and build, you know, 423 - > production facilities, it was at a lot lower prices.

424 - > And now that those numbers are higher, it just means stronger 425 - > economics and then stronger cash flow for the investors once they 426 - > get to the place of production. 427 - > SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, look, there's also um pulling that 428 - > gold out is a lot more expensive than it used to be as well. 429 - > But uh there certainly is seems to be some opportunity there. 430 - > Um on that note, um, I wanted to ask you about some small, you've 431 - > kind of noticed some shift in small cap stocks, uh, that 432 - > they've had some encouraging performances.

433 - > Um, and as we move into the second after half of the year, 434 - > where do you see the greatest opportunities emerging within 435 - > the small cap space? 436 - > SPEAKER_01: We continue to see really strong earnings across 437 - > the board in small cap. 438 - > And again, going back to just a little bit under a year ago now, 439 - > we started to see that trend emerging. 440 - > So coming through the second quarter of 2025 was when we 441 - > started to see earnings numbers increasing on mass in smaller 442 - > companies.

443 - > We had seen it in the large companies before that, and now, 444 - > and then we started to see it in the smaller companies. 445 - > And the market and investors really started to take note of 446 - > that going into the fourth quarter of 2025, and that's when 447 - > you know, if you turned you tuned into the media, they were 448 - > talking about oh, these small caps are really moving, the 449 - > small cap performance, and that didn't shouldn't really come as 450 - > a surprise, and it didn't surprise us because we'd saw 451 - > those earnings trends coming through the first quarter.

452 - > We continue to see those earnings trends, and then even 453 - > with all of the crosswinds of everything that's happening 454 - > globally, economically, we continue to see those numbers 455 - > strong. 456 - > So it wouldn't be a shocker that as long as the economy continues 457 - > to stay together, that we continue to see a pickup in 458 - > those earnings, and then that's going to drive share prices, and 459 - > then you know, even a big small cap investors are always looking 460 - > for rotation, so they're rotating out of that big small 461 - > cap into a medium-sized small cap or a smaller small cap.

462 - > SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I think too when the markets um when 463 - > we're experiencing this type of movement in the markets, 464 - > investors get to be a little pickier. 465 - > So uh good fundamentals become more and more important when you 466 - > say. 467 - > SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, a hundred percent. 468 - > Uh, you know, there's always as you as the cycle gets extended, 469 - > the fundamentals become more important because to start with, 470 - > off the bottom, people are just looking at kind of the blue sky 471 - > opportunity.

472 - > And then as the stock price catches up to that blue sky 473 - > opportunity, then the fundamentals become, you know, 474 - > more critical to see really who's gonna outperform and who's 475 - > gonna just you know match what's happening with the market. 476 - > SPEAKER_02: Absolutely. 477 - > Okay, Bruce, on that note, um, before I get to see you in 478 - > person next month, what what can we think about going into the 479 - > next month of investing? 480 - > You know, we're approaching summer, um, which tends to be a 481 - > little bit of a slower period, although I think some years have 482 - > proven us wrong.

483 - > But uh, what are your thoughts going into the rest of June and 484 - > early July? 485 - > SPEAKER_01: I mean, one of the areas that we're really watching 486 - > in the next few months is what kind of rotation we could 487 - > possibly see. 488 - > And that might actually be led by some of the things that we've 489 - > talked about, both on the IPO side, but also on the commodity 490 - > side and on the earnings side. 491 - > And so it's there there really is potential, and we can we can 492 - > kind of see where there's an opportunity for there to be 493 - > significant sector rotation here that might start sometime this 494 - > summer.

495 - > Doesn't mean it's going to happen, but you always want to 496 - > be cognizant of what's changing and where the earnings trend's 497 - > coming from. 498 - > SPEAKER_02: Absolutely. 499 - > And that's why we get professional guidance so that we 500 - > can have experts like you help us watch out for those. 501 - > Um, Bruce, it's always a pleasure to chat with you, and I 502 - > really do look forward to seeing you in person next month.

503 - > Um uh, you know, until then, I hope you have a wonderful start 504 - > to the summer, and uh, we'll chat soon. 505 - > SPEAKER_01: Yeah, have a great uh have a great start to your 506 - > summer as well. 507 - > SPEAKER_02: Thank you.