TORONTO – Canadian and U.S. stock markets moved higher on Tuesday ahead of some events this week that could shake things up.
“It’s another day of new highs across the board and around the globe,” said Carol Schleif, chief market strategist at BMO Private Wealth.
She added there is a “lot of optimism” around upcoming earnings this week from some of the large-cap tech companies.
Some of Wall Street’s most influential stocks are set to report their results this week, including Alphabet, Meta Platforms and Microsoft on Wednesday, and Amazon and Apple on Thursday. They’ll need to deliver big growth and justify big spending underway in artificial intelligence technology.
“I think there’s just a pretty broad-spread optimism about the ability for growth and technology to sustain things,” she said.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 161.78 points at 47,706.37. The S&P 500 index was up 15.73 points at 6,890.89, while the Nasdaq composite was up 190.04 points at 23,827.49. All three indexes set all-time highs for a third straight day.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 143.92 points at 30,419.68.
Amazon, meanwhile, rose one per cent after saying it will cut about 14,000 corporate jobs, or about four per cent of its corporate workforce, as it ramps up spending on artificial intelligence while cutting costs elsewhere.
A slowing job market is one of the main reasons Wall Street is expecting the U.S. Federal Reserve will announce another cut to interest rates on Wednesday. If it does, it would be the second time this year where it’s lowered the federal funds rate in hopes of helping the job market.
Schleif said she thinks the Fed is “probably still on a trajectory to cut one or more times.”
The Bank of Canada is also set to deliver a rate announcement on Wednesday. A quarter-point cut is widely expected, though far from certain after the latest inflation data came in higher than analysts predicted.
Investors were also keeping a close eye on global trade developments. On Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump will meet China’s leader, Xi Jinping, in hopes of smoothing tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
“The market has been trying for months to move beyond the tariff issues and trade war, and the social media posts from a couple of weeks ago clearly unsettled things, pushed it back to the front burner,” Schleif said.
“Markets clearly like the fact that relationships are more cordial, if you will, on both sides.”
She added that trade deals can take months or years to finalize, but markets are reacting well to the fact that conversations between the U.S. and China are ongoing.
As more Canadian companies are set to report earnings, Schleif said the market will be looking for guidance to see how firms have been impacted by trade tensions.
“Investors will be listening very carefully to guidance as much as to earnings,” she said.
“That’s a similar situation to the U.S., it almost doesn’t matter if they beat as much as what the guidance is or what they’re doing, how they’re handling trade wars and how the consumer is behaving and what the outlook is for the rest of this year and into 2026.”
The Canadian dollar traded for 71.64 cents US compared with 71.45 cents US on Monday.
The December crude oil contract was down US$1.16 at US$60.15 per barrel. The December gold contract was down US$36.60 at US$3,983.10 an ounce.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 28, 2025.
— With files from The Associated Press.
Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)
