Big moves in tech helped propel markets on both sides of the border higher on Monday, while continued strength in gold bolstered Canada’s materials-heavy stock index.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 190.62 points at 29,958.98. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 66.27 points at 46,381.54. The S&P 500 index was up 29.39 points at 6,693.75, while the Nasdaq composite was up 157.50 points at 22,788.98.
Shares in chipmaker Nvidia jumped 3.9 per cent after it announced it will invest US$100 billion in OpenAI, owner of the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT. The partnership is to add at least 10 gigawatts of Nvidia AI data centres to ramp up OpenAI’s computing power.
The partnership deal also helped several ancillary stocks to rise on Monday. For instance, U.S. utilities saw a bump, as new data centres would require gargantuan amounts of electricity to power and cool their operations.
Oracle Corp. also pushed the market higher with a 6.3 per cent gain. A senior official in U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration said the tech giant will receive a copy of TikTok’s algorithm to operate for U.S. users, part of the deal to keep the popular platform running in the country.
Another big tech mover was Apple Inc., whose shares were up 4.3 per cent. Early indications are that demand is strong for its newly released iPhone 17 and there’s potential for it to grow in the Chinese market.
The strength in tech filtered through to Canada’s main index, with shares in e-commerce platform Shopify Inc. up 2.7 per cent.
Another big driver was more record highs in gold on Monday. The December gold contract was up US$69.30 at US$3,775.10 an ounce while the TSX materials sector gained 2.4 per cent.
Barrick Mining Corp. rose 7.4 per cent on Monday, after it announced last week that a study had found a project in Nevada could produce up to 750,000 ounces of gold annually. Meanwhile Kinross Gold Corp. shares rose 3.8 per cent.
“While gold has done really well over the past year and a bit, the gold miners hadn’t done as well until more recently,” said Ian Chong, portfolio manager at First Avenue Investment Counsel. “So it’s playing a lot catch-up and a lot these names are really firing in all cylinders.”
With Wall Street notching record after record in recent weeks, Chong said investors should focus on quality names that can deliver long-term.
“We’re not looking to chase further gains, that’s for sure,” he said. “We are being prudent with capital. We’re looking for opportunity with good companies that have very good earnings in terms of recurring revenues, sustainability, visibility, strong balance sheets ... Everything you would look for in a regular market anyway.”
Among Canadian stocks, shares of Bombardier rose to the highest level since September 2008, with a gain of 7.8%, as one of the company’s divisions announced an aircraft delivery to the U.S. Air Force.
The November crude oil contract was down 12 cents US at US$62.28 per barrel.
The Canadian Press, Globe staff