Canada's main stock index inched upward by noon on Thursday, led by technology and materials sectors, as investors digested the tempered interest rate cut outlook in both Canada and the U.S., alongside the new U.S.-China trade agreement.
The TSX gained 102.45 points to pause for lunch Thursday at 30,247.23.
The healthcare sector emerged as the top performer, rising 2.9%, with drugmaker Bausch Health jumping $1.16, or 14.1%, to $9.38, after raising its full-year 2025 revenue outlook.
Elsewhere, Cogeco's fourth-quarter revenue missed estimates on subscriber losses. Cogeco shares declined $2.65, or 4.4%, to $57.42.
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.
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 5.4 points to 948.91.
All but four of the 12 subgroups were higher midday, led by health-care, sprinting 2.5%, gold, up 2.4%. and materials, better by 1.3%.
The four laggards were weighed most by real-estate, slipping 0.4%, energy, off 0.2%, and telecoms, sinking 0.1%.
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 215.54 points Thursday to 47,847.54
The broader dipped 21.91 points to 6,868.68.
The NASDAQ lost 199.59 points to 23,758.89.
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 backtracked 11% and Microsoft tumbled 3%. 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 Eli Lilly’s stronger-than-expected quarterly results and guidance raise. Shares of Eli Lilly were last up 4%.
Along with Nvidia, other chip stocks like Broadcom and AMD were under pressure Thursday.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained ground, lowering yields back to Wednesday’s 4.08%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices nicked up 16 cents to $60.64 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices recovered nine dollars to $4,009.70 U.S. an ounce.
