CALGARY – Canada’s main stock index ended the week lower while U.S. markets rose Friday as investors looked ahead to interest rate decisions coming next week on both sides of the border.
“The market seems to be in a place where they think it’s unlikely that the Bank of Canada is going to cut rates next week and that they should remain flat,” said Kathryn Del Greco, senior investment adviser at TD Wealth.
“And if the economy continues to hold as well, they’re actually starting to talk about perhaps the Bank of Canada being in a position to raise rates by June of next year. So that’s a bit of a tonal shift we haven’t heard in quite some time.”
Meanwhile market expectations are for a quarter-point cut in the United States next week.
“This is going to be very closely watched because there is some dissension amongst all the Federal Reserve governors voting on this,” Del Greco said.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 166.16 points at 31,311.41.
Del Greco said investors might have been taking some time on a quiet Friday to sell off some of their weaker-performing stocks to crystallize capital losses as part of their year-end tax strategy.
Overall, the tone has been positive on the Canadian index this week, with Canada’s Big Six banks reporting earnings that beat market expectations, she said.
“The majority of Canadians obviously own very large positions, whether directly or through indexes or mutual funds, in the banks. So when they’re doing well, it’s usually a sign that the economy is actually doing quite well.”
Friday also saw better-than-expected job numbers released by Statistics Canada, which said the economy added 54,000 new positions last month compared with economists’ expectations for a small loss.
“We have to temper that with the fact that the majority of them seem to be in part-time positions, and primarily in areas like health care, food services and hospitality, which do tend to be sort of more part-time and seasonally focused,” said Del Greco.
“But still I think it adds a nice undertone to the market.”
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 104.05 points at 47,954.99. The S&P 500 index gained 13.28 points at 6,870.40, while the Nasdaq composite rose 72.99 points at 23,578.13.
Warner Bros. Discovery rose 6.3 per cent after Netflix said it would buy Warner Bros. for $72 billion in cash and stock following its pending split from Discovery Global.
The deal is far from a sure thing, as it could raise fears about too much industry power residing at the streaming giant that give regulatory bodies pause.
The Canadian dollar closed at 72.15 cents US compared with 71.67 cents US on Thursday.
The January crude oil contract was up 41 cents US at US$60.08 per barrel.
The February gold contract was flat at US$4,243 an ounce.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 5, 2025.
Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)
