TORONTO – Canadian and U.S. markets finished in positive territory on Friday as investors gear up for corporate earnings amid ongoing geopolitical tensions.
“We seem to be in a holding pattern until we start to get some of these corporate earnings coming out. The war (with Iran) can make the markets do crazy things, but we seem to be in this holding pattern for now,” said Allan Small, senior investment adviser at iA Private Wealth.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 104.86 points at 35,305.31.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 149.60 at 52,637.01. The S&P 500 index was up 31.75 points at 7,575.39, while the Nasdaq composite was up 74.72 points at 26,281.61.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on social media that he had agreed to continue talks with Iran but also that the United States told the country, “in no uncertain terms, that the Cease Fire is OVER!”
Based on current oil prices, Small said that markets appear to be “downplaying” recent developments in the Middle East.
In the oil market, prices continued to pare back jumps from earlier in the week on worries about how the war with Iran will affect the global flow of crude.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, dipped 0.4 per cent to US$76.01. The August crude oil contract for the North American benchmark, West Texas Intermediate, was down 67 cents US at US$71.41 per barrel.
That’s above its US$72 price from the start of the week, but still well below its wartime peak of nearly US$120. The worry is that continued fighting could block oil tankers from the Strait of Hormuz and prevent the delivery of crude from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide.
Small said that he believes there is a “war premium” built into the current price of oil. If the conflict were not occurring, he said oil prices might be trading around US$55 to US$60 per barrel.
Going forward, the focus on Wall Street is shifting to the upcoming reporting season for the second quarter. Companies will need to produce big growth in profits to justify the big moves for their stock prices, which are broadly near records.
Next week will feature earnings reports from many of the biggest U.S. banks, including Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo on Tuesday alone.
Small said earnings from megacap tech companies will be the biggest driver for the market, with investors closely watching spending and bottom lines in the sector.
In Canada, the labour market figures for last month narrowly topped economists’ expectations, with Statistics Canada announcing Friday that employers added 18,000 jobs in June, mostly in part-time and private sector work.
That pushed the unemployment rate down a tenth of a point to 6.5 per cent, back to where it stood in January. Friday’s jobs figures are the last major economic data to be released before the Bank of Canada’s next interest rate decision next week. Economists expect no change in the key interest rate.
“The Bank of Canada — not that they were going to do anything different — but it just gives them more ammunition to stay on hold. Probably they’re not going to announce anything next week other than they’re on hold and the same things they’ve been saying,” Small said.
The Canadian dollar traded for 70.69 cents US compared with 70.58 cents US on Thursday.
The August gold contract was down US$27.10 at US$4,113.70 an ounce.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 10, 2026.
— With files from The Associated Press
Companies in this story: (TSX: GSPTSE, TSX: CADUSD)
