TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index finished lower on Tuesday in a sharp reversal after being in positive territory for most of the day, while U.S. markets also lost ground.
Tech stocks moved further into the red later in the afternoon, offsetting gains in the basic materials and energy sectors, with shares of Shopify Inc. finishing the day 2.45 per cent lower.
Michael Greenberg, head of Americas portfolio management at Franklin Templeton Investment, said a rebound in commodity prices was the “main driver” that lifted Canada’s stock market for much of the day.
“We had obviously a pretty challenging day yesterday for precious metals and (we are) seeing a nice rebound in that today along with energy,” he said.
Declines in gold and silver prices weighed on Canada’s benchmark index on Monday, but resumed their ascent on Tuesday.
The February crude oil contract was down 13 cents US at US$57.95 per barrel. The February gold contract was up US$42.70 at US$4,386.30 an ounce.
Greenberg noted that gold prices lifted the S&P/TSX composite index’s basic materials sector for much of the year, leading to an “outstanding” performance in one of the best years on the TSX since 2009.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 30.33 points at 31,866.26.
In the U.S. market, stocks fell slightly on Wall Street as trading for 2025 nudges closer to the finish line.
The biggest weights on the market remained technology companies, especially those focused on advancements for artificial intelligence.
“It’s definitely been a volatile sector in the U.S. market this year, but overall point-to-point very strong,” Greenberg said.
“Obviously, there are a few drivers of the tech sector’s performance, a big one being the AI theme and the capex boom related to AI and data centres.”
Nvidia fell 0.4 per cent and Apple fell 0.2 per cent. Both companies have outsized values that have a greater overall impact on the market’s broader direction.
On the winning side, Facebook parent Meta Platforms rose 1.1 per cent. The company is buying artificial intelligence startup Manus as it continues an aggressive push to amp up AI offerings across its platforms.
However, Greenberg said he wouldn’t read too much into the day-to-day moves this week due to lower trading volumes.
“As we come into the end of the year here, definitely seeing a little bit lower volumes. So the moves are sometimes exaggerated a little bit just because there’s not a lot of volume in the market … in the middle of the holiday season,” he said.
Meanwhile, investors also sifted through the U.S. Federal Reserve’s minutes for its December interest rate cut.
At their Dec. 9-10 meeting, Fed officials agreed to cut their key interest rate by a quarter point for the third time this year, to about 3.6 per cent, the lowest in nearly three years. Yet the move was approved by a nine-to-three vote, an unusual level of dissent for a committee that typically works by consensus.
Greenberg said the minutes didn’t appear to reveal any new information.
“The debate on the Fed is you definitely have one camp that believes that the (U.S.) labour market is slowing, that the economy is weakening, and that there is room for the Fed to continue to cut rates, while you have another camp that is preferring to be a lot more patient to remain on hold because of the risk that inflation is a little bit more elevated,” he said.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 94.87 points at 48,367.06. The S&P 500 index was down 9.50 points at 6,896.24, while the Nasdaq composite was down 55.27 points at 23,419.08.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.03 cents US compared with 73.07 cents US on Monday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 30, 2025.
— With files from The Associated Press.
Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)
