Canada’s main stock index rose on Tuesday, led by energy and consumer-related stocks, as investors welcomed recent signs of economic resilience and potential progress in U.S.-China trade talks .
The S&P/TSX composite index ended up 50.51 points, or 0.2 per cent, at 26,426.31, stopping just short of the record closing high it posted on Friday.
“Markets are enjoying the moment,” said Angelo Kourkafas, senior investment strategist at Edward Jones, adding that economies, particularly in the U.S., remain resilient, corporate profits are rising and global trade tensions are easing.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said trade talks with Chinese officials were going well and he hoped they would end on Tuesday night, but said they could run into Wednesday.
The energy sector rose 1.3 per cent even as the price of oil gave back some recent gains, settling 0.5 per cent lower at $64.98 a barrel.
Cenovus Energy is in the process of ramping up production at its Christina Lake oil sands site in Alberta after shutting output due to wildfire risk in early June, its CEO confirmed. Shares of Cenovus ended 2.4 per cent higher.
Consumer staples added 1.7 per cent and consumer discretionary was up 1 per cent.
The materials sector was the only one of 10 major sectors to lose ground, falling 1.2 per cent as the price of gold steadied and copper prices dipped.
The S&P 500 ended higher on Tuesday, lifted by a rally in Tesla as investors bet on positive results from U.S.-China trade talks aimed at defusing a tariff dispute that has roiled global markets this year.
Wall Street expects improved trade terms after relief from a preliminary deal struck last month was overshadowed by Washington’s allegations that Beijing was blocking exports of rare earth minerals critical to the aerospace, semiconductor and defense sectors.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the trade talks were going well and he hoped they would end on Tuesday night, but said they could run into Wednesday.
The U.S. stock market has surged in recent weeks, recovering from an April slump sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” sweeping global tariffs.
With investors betting the United States will reach trade agreements that reduce Mr. Trump’s steep trade barriers, the S&P 500 is now trading just below its February record highs.
“The expectation is that they’ll figure this out, and that the Liberation Day tariff levels are never going to be seen. You can’t get to market valuations where we’ve got them and have those tariff levels get anywhere close to reality,” said Scott Ladner, chief investment officer at Horizon Investments.
Shares of Wall Street’s most valuable companies were mixed. Tesla rose 5.6 per cent, while Microsoft slipped 0.4 per cent.
Alphabet climbed 1.4 per cent after Reuters reported that OpenAI plans to add Alphabet’s Google cloud service to meet its growing needs for computing capacity.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.55 per cent to end the session at 6,038.81 points.
The Nasdaq gained 0.63 per cent to 19,714.99 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.25 per cent to 42,866.87 points.
Of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes, 10 rose, led by energy , up 1.77 per cent, followed by a 1.19-per-cent gain in consumer discretionary.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was relatively heavy, with 18.5 billion shares traded, compared to an average of 17.9 billion shares over the previous 20 sessions.
Investors are awaiting U.S. consumer prices data on Wednesday for clues to the Federal Reserve’s rate trajectory.
The World Bank slashed its global growth forecast for 2025 by 0.4 percentage point to 2.3 per cent, saying higher tariffs and heightened uncertainty posed a “significant headwind” for nearly all economies.
Insmed shares jumped almost 29 per cent after the drugmaker said its experimental drug significantly reduced blood pressure in the lungs and improved exercise capacity in patients in a mid-stage study.
J.M. Smucker’s shares tumbled 15.6 per cent after the Jif peanut butter maker forecast annual profit below estimates.
Snap ended down 0.1 per cent after the social media platform said it would launch its first-ever smart glasses for all consumers next year, ratcheting up competition with Meta in the wearable technology market.
Reuters