Canada's main stock index opened slightly higher on Thursday, even as shares of precious metal miners slipped tracking declines in the prices of the commodities.
The TSX recovered 39.5 points to open Thursday at 32,174.99.
The Canadian dollar eked up 0.09 cents to 72.17 cents U.S.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported Canada's monthly international trade in services surplus widened from $0.4 billion in September to $0.5 billion in October. Overall, imports of services declined 1.2% to $19.6 billion, and exports were down 0.4% to $20.1 billion.
In other news, Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to visit China next week as Canada tries to forge new trade partnerships in the face of crippling tariffs in its main market, the U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dumped 10.52 points to 1,036.18.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups gained ground, with consumer staples improving 1.4%, industrials, up 0.9%, and real-estate, ahead 0.8%.
The five laggards were weighed most by information technology, backpedaling 1.1%, gold, slumping 0.8%, and materials, off 0.7%.
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose on Thursday, while the NASDAQ came under pressure as investors moved away from technology stocks.
The 30-stock index recovered 193.9 points to 49,189.98.
The S&P 500 index nicked ahead 2.51 points to 6,923.44.
The NASDAQ lost, however, 116.26 points to 23,468.01.
Artificial intelligence darling Nvidia was among the names investors exited, trading down more than 1% alongside Apple. Fellow AI play Oracle pulled back by more than 2%.
Conversely, defense stocks rallied after President Donald Trump called for a $1.5 trillion defense budget in 2027, a massive increase from the $901 billion approved by Congress for 2026. Northrop Grumman jumped more than 10%, and Lockheed Martin gained around 8%.
Additionally, RTX advanced more than 5%, and Kratos Defense popped 17%.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury sagged, pointing yields up to 4.18% from Wednesday’s 4.14%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 84 cents to $56.83 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dipped $1.90 to $4,460.60.
