Stocks in Toronto went increasingly skyward Wednesday, powered by tech and resource stocks.
The TSX jumped 150.27 points to close the session at 30,501.99
The Canadian dollar ducked 0.12 cents at 71.65 cents.
Gold continued its ascent, shattering the $4,000-per-ounce threshold for the first time, as investors piled into the safe haven to seek cover from mounting geopolitical uncertainty.
Among gold stocks, Aya Gold gained 80 cents, or 4.9%, to $17.23, while Lundin Gold picked up $4.83, or 5.2%, to $97.17.
Meanwhile, copper prices inched upward as market participants remained concerned about potential supply disruptions.
On the downside, declines in energy stocks limited the gains for the main index.
Cenovus Energy regained 44 cents, or 1.8%, to $24.71, after raising its bid for MEG Energy on Wednesday to $8.6 billion, including debt. Shares of MEG Energy gained $1.81, or 6.4%, to $30.05.
The information technology sector was among the standout performers, surging 1.6%, with cryptocurrency miner Bitfarms leading the charge, gaining 73 cents, or 15.1%, to $5.58.
Quarterhill tacked on seven cents, or 6.7%, to $1.11.
Market attention was also fixed on Tuesday's meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Mark Carney.
During the talks, Trump offered assurances of fair treatment regarding painful U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods, though he appeared less committed to the trilateral trade agreement that includes Mexico.
Carney made his second White House visit in just five months, as he is under mounting pressure to address U.S. tariffs affecting Canadian steel, automotive and other industries.
On the corporate front, Lithium Americas saw its U.S.-listed shares climb 5% following news that the U.S. Department of Energy had agreed to defer a $184-million debt service obligation.
Lithium Americas dipped 56 cents, or 4.9%, to $10.99.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange spiked 21.95 points, or 2.2%, to 1,013.31
The 12 TSX subgroups were evenly split by the close, with information technology soaring 2.9%, while gold hiked 1.9%, and materials were better by 1.6%/ .
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by telecoms, down 1.2%, real-estate, sliding 0.7% and financials, falling 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite scored new all-time intraday and closing highs on Wednesday, a day after the broad market index snapped a seven-day winning streak because of a drop in Oracle that called to question the sustainability of the artificial intelligence trade.
The U.S. government shutdown is also in its second week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Index gave up earlier gains and finished in the red 1.2 points Wednesday at 46,601.78.
The much broader index gained 39.13 points to 6,753.72
The tech-heavy NASDAQ spiked 255.02 points, or 1.1%, to 23,043.38
Stocks showed little reaction to the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s September meeting, where it cut rates for the first time in 2025. The minutes showed a Fed divided over how much further to cut rates.
The move comes just a day after the AI chip darling finished lower in sympathy with Oracle shares in the wake of Oracle reportedly seeing lighter margins in its cloud business than analysts are currently forecasting and that the enterprise software company is losing money on some of its deals to rent out Nvidia’s chips.
That added to fears that the stock market is currently caught up in an AI bubble that harkens back to the late 1990s, when a feeding frenzy on early internet companies eventually led to the bursting of the dot-com bubble.
Many market observers are urging investors to rebalance their portfolios, while also acknowledging there could be further upside before the AI rally exhausts itself.
Meanwhile, the current government shutdown dragged into its eighth day Wednesday, with the Senate expected to vote once again later in the day to reopen the government. The chamber for the fifth time failed to pass a short-term funding bill Monday.
The stoppage has weighed little on equities thus far, but poses a greater risk to sentiment the longer it wears on.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury dipped, raising yields to 4.13% from Tuesday’s 4.12%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 71 cents to $62.44 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices hiked $59.60 to $4,064 U.S. an ounce.
