Canada’s main stock index rose to a record high on Friday as investors looked past recent geopolitical uncertainty and soaring commodity prices boosted resource shares. U.S. stocks ended mixed.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index ended up 142.28 points, or 0.4%, at 33,144.98, eclipsing Monday’s record closing high. For the week, the index was up 0.3%, despite a sharp drop on Tuesday that was tied to the threat of new U.S. tariffs on goods from Europe.
“Few have been better able to ignore the noise than Canada’s equity market,” Doug Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets, said in a note. “The latest surge in metals prices provided support for materials, assisted by the spike in gas and a firming in crude oil.”
The materials group, which includes metal mining shares, added 1.7%. Silver prices rose above US$100 an ounce for the first time, while gold hit another record en route to US$5,000/oz as investors piled into safe-haven assets.
The price of oil also rose, settling 2.9% higher at US$61.07 a barrel, after U.S. President Donald Trump renewed threats against major Middle Eastern producer Iran, raising concerns of military action that could disrupt supplies.
Energy gained 1.2% in Toronto and technology was up 1.4%. The latter was ending a losing streak of eight straight days of declines.
Four of the index’s 10 main sectors ended lower, including industrials, which lost 0.7%, and healthcare. Healthcare ended 2.8% lower, with shares of Bausch Health down 11% after the drugmaker’s brain dysfunction treatment failed late-stage trials.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down, while the S&P 500 ended largely unchanged, as investors’ risk appetite was dimmed at the end of a topsy-turvy week by Intel’s plunge on a downbeat outlook.
All three Wall Street benchmarks had rebounded in the past two sessions following Tuesday’s sharp selloff triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on European allies, an effort to pressure them to accept his claims to Greenland.
On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.58%. The S&P 500 edged up 0.03%, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.28%. For the week, the S&P 500 was off by 0.36%, the Dow lower by 0.53% and the Nasdaq slipped by 0.06%.
One twist on Friday, which weighed on market sentiment, was chipmaker Intel. Its shares sank 17% after the company forecast quarterly revenue and profit below market estimates, saying it struggled to satisfy demand for its server chips used in AI data centers. With many technology and semiconductor companies still trading at sky-high valuations, 2026 is viewed by many as the year where the huge excitement for the artificial intelligence trend, and the huge amounts of capital expenditure to attain it, need to start showing up as corporate revenue.
In currency markets, the Canadian dollar extended its weekly gain against the U.S. dollar on Friday as the greenback posted broad-based declines and domestic data showed that retail sales rose in November.
The loonie was trading 0.5% higher at 1.3715 per U.S. dollar, or 72.91 U.S. cents, after touching its strongest intraday level since January 2 at 1.3705. For the week, the currency was up 1.5%, its biggest weekly gain since May.
Investor angst in the currency markets this week over intensifying geopolitical tensions has largely been borne by the U.S. dollar. The greenback on Friday added to its weekly decline against a basket of major currencies as traders stayed alert to the prospects of intervention in the yen.
Reuters, Globe staff