Canada’s main stock index gained ground amid recent trade developments, while AI stocks weighed on Wall Street.
On Wednesday, United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the U.S. is not renewing the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement “in its current form” — but the trade agreement will remain in place as negotiations continue.
Brianne Gardner, senior wealth manager of Velocity Investment Partners at Raymond James Ltd., said the uncertainty around CUSMA will remain a headline risk, but is not necessarily a reason to avoid the TSX.
“Any modernization (of CUSMA) could create opportunities in Canadian sectors like energy specifically, defence, transportation, and even domestic supply chains,” she said.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 109.68 points at 34,966.67, driven by the technology and basic materials sectors.
Gardner said she anticipates materials will be “one of the strongest-performing sectors over the next 12 months,” supported by higher precious metal prices.
The August gold contract was up US$43.30 at US$4,125.70 an ounce.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 594.83 points at 52,900.07. The S&P 500 index was essentially flat, up 0.01 points at 7,483.24, while the Nasdaq composite was down 207.36 points at 25,832.67.
Most U.S. stocks rose on Thursday, and the Dow rallied to another record, but more drops for computer chip companies and other winners of the artificial-intelligence boom kept indexes mixed.
They’ve come under pressure because of worries that their stock prices shot too high in the frenzy around AI and that all the spending on chips and data centers may not result in as much profit and productivity growth as hoped.
Memory maker Micron Technology erased an early gain to drop 5.5 per cent, a day after plunging 10.6 per cent. Nvidia fell 1.4 per cent. They were some of the heaviest weights on the S&P 500 because they’ve grown so huge in size amid AI mania.
Gardner said that U.S. markets are experiencing a rotation toward more defensive sectors.
“Momentum selling is still continuing within semiconductor and even memory stocks as a lot of investors and portfolio managers are reassessing their AI infrastructure spending, especially following the recent strong gains we have seen year-to-date in those sectors,” she said.
U.S. markets will be closed on Friday for Independence Day.
On the economic data front, a report showed U.S. employers added 57,000 jobs to their payrolls last month. That’s growth, which is good for the economy, but it was also short of the 100,000 jobs economists expected and a slowdown from May’s hiring pace.
The bright side of the weaker-than-expected result is that it could keep pressure off inflation, which has been accelerating worldwide because of jumps in oil prices caused by the war with Iran. And now that oil prices are back below where they were before the war, if inflation slows in upcoming months, the U.S. Federal Reserve may feel less need to raise interest rates several times this year.
Lower rates also tend to push upward on prices for stocks and other investments.
In the oil market, prices dropped in the morning but pared their losses as the day progressed. Brent crude, the international standard, settled at US$71.80 per barrel, up 0.3 per cent.
The August crude oil contract was up 11 cents US at US$68.69 per barrel.
The Canadian dollar traded for 70.52 cents US compared with 70.37 cents US on Tuesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 2, 2026.
— With files from The Associated Press
Companies in this story: (TSX: GSPTSE, TSX: CADUSD)
