TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index made modest gains Wednesday while U.S. markets were mixed as investors weighed what might come next in trade disputes.
“The market has been kind of steady since it had its surge on Monday,” said Andrew Buntain, vice-president and portfolio manager at Fiduciary Trust Canada, referring to the jump following news of a de-escalation of U.S.-China trade tensions.
“I think investors are sort of trying to decide if there’s a time for a risk-on environment now that things seem to have recovered from six weeks ago.”
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 75.59 points at 25,692.45 as technology, industrials and financials rose while energy, telecoms and utilities fell.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 89.37 points at 42,051.06. The S&P 500 index was up 6.03 points at 5,892.58, while the Nasdaq composite was up 136.72 points at 19,146.81.
While markets have cheered the 90-day truce in the U.S.-China trade war, there’s still a lot of uncertainty as to what comes next, said Buntain.
“The last few days of just sideways trading have shown that the market still hasn’t adopted a full risk-on capacity at the moment, but it is a notable change in mindset over a relatively short time frame,” he said.
The roller-coaster for investors in recent weeks have left markets a little jittery and focused on the very short term, said Buntain.
“Everything can change with one social media comment or one announcement on trade policy, and we can be, you know, right back into a period of frenetic sell-off.”
The Canadian dollar traded for 71.61 cents US compared with 71.59 cents US on Tuesday.
The Toronto market and the loonie also gained a day after Prime Minister Mark Carney announced his new cabinet, but Buntain said it was still early days on what the government will do.
“Canadians are looking for a strong, stable government to implement policies that were promised when it comes to natural resource development and competitive taxes and so on,” he said.
“It’s up to the government to deliver on those promises, to continue to grow investors’ confidence both domestically and ideally, attract investment from abroad. But at this point it’s very early on and time will tell.”
The June crude oil contract was down 52 cents US at US$63.15 per barrel and the June natural gas contract was down 16 cents US at US$3.49 per mmBTU.
The June gold contract was down US$59.50 at US$3,188.30 an ounce and the July copper contract was down seven cents US at US$4.65 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 14, 2025.
Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)
