Canada’s main stock index rose on Thursday, led by technology shares, as cautious investors assessed a spate of corporate earnings and looked for potential trade deals ahead of the August 1 tariff deadline.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was up 0.4% at 27,472.63 points and was on track to log its third consecutive monthly gain.
Meta Platforms and Microsoft surged in the U.S. after the reported blowout quarterly results on Wednesday, boosting investor confidence in tech and AI investments.
Canadian technology stocks rose 1.4% tracking gains in the U.S. peers.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump intensified his trade war with Canada a day ahead of his tariff deadline, saying it would be “very hard” to make a deal after Canada’s support for Palestinian statehood.
If no agreement is reached by the deadline, Trump will impose a 35% tariff on Canadian goods outside the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.
Data showed on Thursday, Canada’s Gross Domestic Product met expectations, shrinking 0.1% in May on a monthly basis, but is likely to regain the lost output in June.
U.S. inflation rose in June as import tariffs pushed up prices, supporting economists’ expectations that price pressures would pick up in the second half of the year.
“While corporate profits are in the spotlight this week and today…we still have a relatively favorable backdrop as the U.S. and Canadian economies are holding up ok despite some of the trade uncertainty that still persists, especially in Canada”, said Angelo Kourkafas, senior global investment strategist at Edward Jones.
Material miners stocks rose 1.4% tracking higher gold prices.
Healthcare stocks slipped the most, down 3.9%, pressured by Bausch Health’s 11% fall after the pharmaceutical firm reported its quarterly results.
In other corporate news, Bombardier slipped 5.2% after the business jet maker reported a slight drop in second-quarter revenue.
Canada Goose fell 2.9% after the luxury goods maker posted a bigger-than-expected quarterly loss.
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