TORONTO — Canada's main stock index edged higher on Thursday, helped by strength in the financial sector, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 14.84 points at 25,854.01.
TD Bank’s share price moved higher along with most major Canadian bank stocks on Thursday, said Allan Small, senior investment adviser at iA Private Wealth.
The Toronto-based bank delivered a “refreshing” report of its second-quarter earnings, he said, despite announcing a two per cent workforce reduction. The bank’s profit of $11.1 billion or $6.27 per diluted share was up from a profit of $2.6 billion or $1.35 per diluted share a year earlier.
TD shares closed at $92.81 for the day on the Toronto Stock Exchange, up 3.2 per cent.
“They beat on the top and bottom line, really all facets of their business went higher from net interest margins to setting aside less money for bad debt,” said Small.
“Trading revenues were up, their restructuring in the U.S. is going well from that money laundering situation.”
Meanwhile, investors south of the border were “buying the dips," he said, led by technology stocks.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 1.35 points at 41,859.09. The S&P 500 index was down 2.60 points at 5,842.01, while the Nasdaq composite was up 53.09 points at 18,925.73.
“It's the ebbs and flows,” said Small.
“I think the retail investor, for whatever reason over the past little while, didn't really buy into the fall that we saw over the last couple of months. They were there to buy the dips. They were there to hold on. The average retail investor used that as a buying opportunity and they've been rewarded.”
He said investors will be keeping their ears open for any news out of Washington, where the House on Thursday passed a legislative package that combines tax breaks, spending cuts, border security funding and other priorities of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.
Republicans are trying to make permanent the individual income and estate tax cuts passed in Trump’s first term plus enact promises he made in the 2024 campaign to not tax tips, overtime and interest on some auto loans. The bill now heads to the Senate.
“That's going to be a big deal,” said Small.
“If the president can pass this … continuation of the Trump tax cuts, that's going to be key. Not sure (the markets) like it too much because the tax cuts could be inflationary, add more debt to the mix, but we'll have to see.”
Worries about tax cuts inflating the U.S. government's debt sent yields higher this week, enough to potentially send the stock market to its worst week in the last seven. The moves in the bond market are likely to make mortgages more expensive for U.S. home buyers, along with other kinds of loans.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.10 cents US compared with 72.21 cents US on Wednesday.
The July crude oil contract was down 37 cents US at US$61.20 per barrel and the July natural gas contract was down 10 cents US at US$3.64 per mmBTU.
The June gold contract was down US$18.50 at US$3,295 an ounce and the July copper contract was up less than a penny at US$4.68 a pound.
—With files from The Associated Press
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 22, 2025.
Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)
Sammy Hudes, The Canadian Press
