AI names push stock markets higher on Friday

TORONTO – Stock markets in Canada and the U.S. rose on Friday amid gains in large U.S. tech companies.

After the second consecutive day of gains in equity markets, Jillian Bryan, senior investment adviser and senior portfolio manager at TD Wealth, said earnings from Micron Technology marked an inflection point earlier this week.

On Thursday, Micron Technology, the seller of memory and storage for computers, reported better profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Micron also gave forecasts for upcoming profit and revenue that blew past analysts’ expectations.

“I just think that because it was such a hot print from Micron, it just boosted all these AI stocks and the beneficiaries like Nvidia and so forth,” Bryan said.

Technology stocks were once again the main force behind the market’s broader moves, especially companies with a focus on artificial intelligence. Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed out the week with gains, despite several stumbles early this week.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 183.04 points at 48,134.89. The S&P 500 index was up 59.74 points at 6,834.50, while the Nasdaq composite was up 301.26 points at 23,307.62.

Nvidia was the biggest force driving the market higher, with a 3.9 per cent gain. Broadcom jumped 3.2 per cent.

The technology sector has been fueling Wall Street throughout the year as companies with outsized values like Nvidia exert more pressure on markets. But, those pricey stock values have come under more scrutiny from investors wondering whether they are justifiable.

Meanwhile, the latest U.S. inflation data on Thursday revealed a surprise cooling of prices in November. The U.S. Labor Department reported that its consumer price index rose 2.7 per cent year-over-year. But economists quickly warned that those numbers were suspect because they’d been delayed and likely distorted by the 43-day shutdown of the U.S. government.

The U.S. Federal Reserve has maintained a cautious stance about interest rate policy heading into 2026 and Wall Street is mostly betting that it will hold steady on rates at its next meeting in January.

“We’re going to see the U.S. cut rates. It’s just a matter of what that cadence looks like,” Bryan said.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 314.92 points at 31,755.77 on Friday.

Bryan said the TSX has outperformed some of its U.S. peers this year.

As of late afternoon Friday, she said the TSX was up around 9 per cent on a year-to-date basis, compared with the Nasdaq composite up roughly 20 per cent and the S&P 500 up 16 per cent.

Investors in Canada also sifted through the latest retail sales figures.

Retail sales fell 0.2 per cent to $69.4 billion in October as sales at beer, wine and liquor stores dropped, Statistics Canada said Friday.

“I think looking ahead, we’re going to get some GDP data and Bank of Canada minutes on Tuesday before the holiday break. I think that is where people will be looking for more information on the consumer,” Bryan said.

The Canadian dollar traded for 72.56 cents US compared with 72.60 cents US on Thursday.