Canada’s main stock index edged up to a new record high on Tuesday, led by gains for the energy sector, as oil prices climbed and uranium producers notched gains.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index ended up 37.68 points, or 0.1%, at 26,426.64, eclipsing Monday’s record closing high. U.S. stock indexes also closed higher as investors awaited possible negotiations between the United States and its trading partners for more clarity on Washington’s tariff plans.
“The TSX is a very attractive market right now for investors,” said Philip Petursson, chief investment strategist at IG Wealth Management. “If you want to hedge some of the risks that you see in the United States on the political side, the TSX is well-positoned for that.”
The Toronto market has benefited in recent months from safe-haven demand for gold. The materials group, which includes gold mining shares, accounts for 13% of the TSX’s weighting, while energy accounts for an even larger share, at 17%.
Energy added 1.5% on Tuesday as the price of oil settled 1.4% higher at $63.41. Persistent geopolitical tensions looked set to keep sanctions on both OPEC+ members Russia and Iran in place for longer.
“Any time oil prices are up that’s a significant positive for the TSX,” Petursson said.
Wildfires burning in Canada’s oil-producing province of Alberta have affected more than 344,000 barrels per day of oil sands production, or about 7% of the country’s overall crude oil output, according to Reuters calculations.
Uranium stocks rose after social media platform operator Meta Platforms struck an agreement with Constellation Energy to keep one of the utility’s reactors in Illinois operating for 20 years. Shares of Energy Fuels Inc jumped 14.4%.
The utilities group also notched gains, rising 1.1%, with Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp up 16%. Consumer staples was a drag, falling 1.2%.
U.S. stock indexes closed higher on Tuesday, helped by gains in Nvidia and other chipmakers, as investors awaited possible negotiations between the United States and its trading partners for more clarity on Washington’s tariff plans.
President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are set to speak this week, the White House said on Monday, days after Trump accused China of violating a Geneva agreement to roll back tariffs and trade restrictions. Beijing said it would safeguard its interests and that the accusation was groundless.
The Trump administration wants countries to provide their best offer on trade negotiations by Wednesday as officials seek to accelerate talks with multiple partners ahead of a self-imposed deadline in just five weeks, according to a draft letter to negotiating partners seen by Reuters.
“The most important thing for investors is that the administration wasn’t going to impose those much-larger-than-expected tariffs and just leave them on, which would have almost certainly led to a recession,” said Chris Zaccarelli, Chief Investment Officer at Northlight Asset Management.
“The fact that the U.S. is actively engaged with so many trading partners – China, the UK, Japan, the EU, etc. – has investors feeling more optimistic that we will avoid a recession.”
In May, a softening of Trump’s harsh trade stance allowed a recovery in risky assets, with the benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq posting their biggest monthly percentage gain since November 2023.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 214.16 points, or 0.51%, to 42,519.64, the S&P 500 gained 34.43 points, or 0.58%, to 5,970.37 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 156.34 points, or 0.81%, to 19,398.96.
Information technology stocks rose 1.5%, boosted by 2.9% gains in Nvidia. Chipmaker Broadcom hit a fresh record high after the company said it has begun to ship its latest networking chip that aims to speed AI. It rose 3.2%
“Commentary that Trump and Xi will speak started getting discussed yesterday and chips are likely a topic on the table,” said Angelo Zino, a senior equity analyst at CFRA Research. “Given Nvidia is essentially currently locked out of China, any discussion is prone to favor Nvidia and chips rather than hurt the story.”
A U.S. Labor Department report showed job openings increased in April, but layoffs picked up, signaling a slowing labor market as tariffs impact the economic outlook.
Factory orders dropped sharply in April, as the boost from front-loading of purchases ahead of tariffs faded. Data from the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau showed a 3.7% fall, after an unrevised 3.4% jump in March.
Monthly jobs data on Friday will offer more signs on how trade uncertainty is affecting the world’s biggest economy.
Shares of Wells Fargo were trading higher in post market trading after the U.S. Federal Reserve announced that the bank will no longer have to operate under a $1.95 trillion asset cap the regulator imposed on the bank in 2018 following its long-running sales practices scandal.
Wells Fargo shares ended the day 1.2% higher, but were trading 2% higher after the bell.
Shares of Kenvue dropped 6%, leading declines on the benchmark S&P 500 index. The company, which makes consumer health products, said at a Deutsche Bank conference that retailers in the U.S. and China are destocking products due to uncertainty over tariffs.
Dollar General surged 15.8% as the discount retailer raised its annual sales forecast after surpassing quarterly sales expectations.
Shares of image-sharing platform Pinterest rose 3.8% after JPMorgan raised the stock to overweight from neutral.
Shares of Reddit fell 1.1% after the social media platform was down for over 29,000 users on Tuesday, according to outage tracking website Downdetector.com.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 15.69 billion shares, compared with the 17.8 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.32-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 171 new highs and 53 new lows on the NYSE.
On the Nasdaq, advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.07-to-1 ratio.
The S&P 500 posted 31 new 52-week highs and 4 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 99 new highs and 60 new lows.
Reuters