TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index rose Friday, helped by strength in the technology sector, while U.S. stock markets saw gains after an encouraging inflation report.
U.S. stocks climbed as the slightly better-than-expected inflation read helped reinforce the chances of a rate cut from the Federal Reserve next week, said Philip Petursson, chief investment strategist at IG Wealth Management.
“It just reaffirmed the ability of the Fed to cut,” he said.
“It basically provided the ability for the Fed to feel confident that tariffs are not contributing significantly to inflation at this point in time.”
Petursson said the result also may have slightly boosted the probability of the Bank of Canada also announcing an interest-rate cut at its meeting next week, though it’s already widely expected to do so.
The boost to likely rate cuts helped push the S&P/TSX composite index up 166.79 points to 30,353.07.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average ended up 472.51 points at 47,207.12. The S&P 500 index was up 53.25 points at 6,791.69, while the Nasdaq composite was up 263.07 at 23,204.87.
Markets also shrugged off U.S. President Donald Trump’s statement that he was calling off trade talks with Canada after Ontario ran ads featuring former U.S. president Ronald Reagan saying tariffs damage economies.
Petursson said markets didn’t react because nothing had fundamentally shifted.
“The important thing to recognize is that the status quo hasn’t changed,” he said.
He said Canada is in the same position as before, with no deal in place and no clarity as to when a deal might be reached.
“There will be negotiations going forward. And I think this is this kind of silly, but nonetheless the status quo remains in place, and therefore there shouldn’t be any reaction to it.”
The December gold contract was down US$7.80 at US$4,137.80 an ounce.
The metal saw a notable retreat this week, but Petursson said it was just setting gold back to where it was at Thanksgiving and he believes it still has room to climb.
“Our view on gold is that it’s been catching up to the monetary inflation that we’ve seen over the past number of years,” he said.
“I don’t think the run in gold is done.”
The Canadian dollar traded for 71.36 cents US compared with 71.46 cents US on Thursday.
The December crude oil contract was down 29 cents at US$61.50 per barrel.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2025.
Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)
Note to readers:This is a corrected story. A previous version had the incorrect closing number for the S&P/TSX composite in the headline.
