Stocks in Canada’s largest centre were flat Thursday as investors digested the tempered rate cut outlook in Canada and the U.S. and the newly announced U.S.-China trade agreement.
The TSX gained 64.55 points to kick off Thursday at 30,209.33.
On the trade front, U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to roll back some tariffs on Chinese imports in exchange for Beijing resuming soybean purchases, keeping rare earth exports flowing and cracking down on fentanyl trafficking.
Markets, however, fear the tariff truce may be short-lived, given the history of promising trade talks later derailed by complications.
In a separate development, Trump said on Thursday he had a "very nice" conversation with Prime Minister Mark Carney when the two attended a dinner in South Korea amid a heated trade spat between the two neighbours.
Additionally, South Korea and Canada have agreed to form a consultative body for defence industry cooperation.
Canada is due to present its federal budget next week. Economists forecast the government's fiscal deficit for the 2025-26 fiscal year will see a massive jump.
In corporate news, Cogeco's fourth-quarter revenue missed estimates on subscriber losses. Cogeco shares declined $4.34, or 7.2%, to $55.72.
On the economic schedule, Statistics Canada reported the number of employees receiving pay and benefits from their employer—measured as "payroll employment" in the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours—was little changed (+3,300; +0.0%) in August, following an increase of 25,600 (+0.1%) in July.
On a year-over-year basis, payroll employment was up 31,500 (+0.2%) in August 2025.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 0.32 points to 943.83.
All but three of the 12 subgroups were higher in the first hour, led by health-care, sprinting 3.3%, gold, up 1.4%. and information technology, better by 0.5%.
The three laggards were telecoms, down 0.7%, energy, sliding 0.6%. real-estate, down 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 fell on Thursday as investors digested a batch of Big Tech earnings, while a meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping concluded.
The Dow Jones Industrials index surged 243.84 points Thursday to 47,875.84
The broader dipped 32.38 points to 6,858.31.
The NASDAQ lost 246.62 points, or 1%, to 23,711.86.
Megacap tech giants Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft each reported quarterly results after market close Wednesday.
While Alphabet shares popped about 5% on the back of strong results, shares of Meta fell about 11% and Microsoft tumbled about 2%,. Investors grew worried about the increased spending outlooks for both Meta and Microsoft.
The drop in Meta and Microsoft, as well as artificial intelligence chip giant Nvidia, marked a rotation out of technology stocks in the session.
While those were lower, bank stocks such as JPMorgan and Bank of America saw gains, as did health-care stocks on the heels of Elly Lilly’s stronger-than-expected quarterly results and guidance raise. Shares of Eli Lilly were last up 2%.
Traders also kept an eye on the trade front, after Trump agreed to cut fentanyl tariffs on China to 10%. That bring the overall levy on Chinese imports to 47% from 57%.
As part of the deal, Beijing will work to stop fentanyl into the U.S. and buy American-grown soybeans along with other agricultural goods. China also delayed the latest curb on rare earth exports by a year. “Rare earth issue has been settled,” Trump said.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury dipped, raising yields to 4.09% from Wednesday’s 4.08%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dipped 37 cents to $60.11 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices recovered $19.30 to $4,020 U.S. an ounce.
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