TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index finished in negative territory on Tuesday, weighed down by declines in commodity prices, while another sudden reversal for high-flying artificial-intelligence stocks sent Wall Street reeling.
Ryan Bushell, CEO and portfolio manager at Newhaven Asset Management, said he also thinks the interest rate picture continues to be a concern for the market, following jobs data out of the U.S. last week.
“The tech stocks sold off extremely hard on Friday, had a bounce yesterday and are giving back most or all of that bounce today,” he said.
“Those are the ones that are higher risk and they’re long-duration assets because they’re growth stocks, so interest rates have a bigger effect on that market more directly.”
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 86.10 points at 50,872.11. The S&P 500 index was down 19.08 points at 7,386.65, while the Nasdaq composite was down 250.84 points at 25,678.82.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 67.05 points at 34,411.69.
Traders on Wall Street largely expect the U.S. Federal Reserve will have to raise its main interest rate at least once by the end of this year. Higher U.S. interest rates would threaten to slow that economy and undercut prices for stocks and all kinds of other investments.
U.S. indexes swung lower after companies selling computer chips, memory and other building blocks of the AI boom broke from early gains to losses. Micron Technology went from a jump of four per cent to a plummet of 10 per cent, for example, before finishing with a drop of 1.4 per cent. That’s a day after it soared 9.9 per cent and two days after it plunged 13.3 per cent.
Following last week’s industrywide sell-off, the question is whether AI stocks broadly are heading for a long downturn or just needed a shake-out to get rid of excessive optimism.
All the while, several big-name AI companies are racing to list their stocks on a U.S. exchange and sell them at high prices. OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, said Monday it was the latest to file confidential paperwork with U.S. regulators to open the door for an initial public offering. SpaceX’s IPO could happen later this week.
The weakness for AI stocks drowned out the benefit Wall Street got from easing oil prices. Nearly three out of every four stocks within the S&P 500 rose, despite the sharp swings for the overall index, as the price for a barrel of Brent crude oil sank three per cent to US$91.45.
The July crude oil contract was down US$3.10 at US$88.20 per barrel.
Oil prices pared their losses, though, after U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran was responsible for downing an American military helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz and that the United States “must” respond to the attack.
Bushell said lower commodity prices on Tuesday weighed on Canada’s benchmark index, which saw declines in basic materials and energy stocks.
Economists expect the Bank of Canada to hold its benchmark interest rate steady for the fifth straight time during its interest rate announcement on Wednesday.
Bushell said he thinks the Bank of Canada is in a better position compared with the U.S. Federal Reserve.
“If you look at where the Fed is, rates are still high and there’s still some sort of expectation that they come down. The Bank of Canada is in that sweet spot where they can move either way,” he said.
“I wouldn’t be surprised to see a hike late this year from the Bank of Canada, but I think they’ve got cover to stand pat.”
The Canadian dollar traded for 71.70 cents US, unchanged from the previous day.
The August gold contract was down US$77.00 at US$4,286.40 an ounce.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 9, 2026.
— With files from The Associated Press.
Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)
