TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index finished slightly lower as the industrials sector took losses on Monday, while U.S. markets moved higher as investors await U.S. economic data coming later this week.
Macan Nia, co-chief investment strategist at Manulife Investments, said Monday’s trading session represented a “quiet day” on the markets, with U.S. indexes gaining from the momentum of the past few weeks.
“Markets are just taking a breather, waiting for the inflation data that is coming out on Thursday before investors decide what the next decisions will be moving forward,” he said.
Trading across most of the market was relatively quiet ahead of several updates coming later this week on the U.S. economy and inflation. Reports on U.S. inflation will come on Wednesday and Thursday, showing how much prices rose last month at the wholesale and at the consumer levels.
The U.S. inflation reports could alter expectations among traders, who at the moment are unanimously forecasting the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut its main interest rate for the first time this year at its meeting two Wednesdays from now.
Investors tend to love such cuts because they can give a boost to the U.S. economy and to prices for investments. The downside of them is that they can also push inflation higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 22.90 points at 29,027.73.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 114.09 points at 45,514.95. The S&P 500 index was up 13.65 points at 6,495.15, while the Nasdaq composite was up 98.31 points at 21,798.70.
The decline on the TSX came as losses in industrials and utilities offset gains in basic materials and real estate.
“The TSX is in an interesting spot moving forward … what’s going to be the catalyst for the TSX for the remainder of the year?” Nia said.
He added that the performance of the TSX this year has been “concentrated in terms of returns” with about 70 per cent of the returns coming from two sectors: financials and materials.
“The story that TSX is always concentration, but this year it seems like that concentration story is even on steroids.”
Going forward, he said the TSX will be driven by the overall theme of global markets and less so by what happens “here at home.”
Within the industrials sector, shares of MDA Space Ltd. fell 25 per cent on Monday as the high-tech manufacturer lost a recently announced major contract with EchoStar Corp.
EchoStar cancelled the deal as it separately announced an agreement to sell its spectrum licenses to SpaceX for about US$17 billion in cash and shares
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.38 cents US compared with 72.31 cents US on Friday.
The October crude oil contract was up 39 cents US at US$62.26 per barrel. The December gold contract was up US$24.10 at US$3,677.40 an ounce.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 8, 2025.
— With files from The Associated Press.
Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)
