TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index drove further into record territory on Thursday, helped by gains in the basic materials sector, while U.S. markets were mixed.
Carol Schleif, chief market strategist at BMO Private Wealth, said that there is some level of optimism regarding economic fundamentals.
“You had a lot of jobs data out of the U.S. in particular this week that ... actually hinted at a little bit of strengthening in that market,” she said.
On the TSX, all sectors were positive, with basic materials leading the overall index higher. Schleif said rising gold prices helped lift that part of the market.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 415.52 points at 35,217.06.
The August gold contract was up US$38.10 at US$4,505 an ounce.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 874.86 points at 51,561.93. The S&P 500 index was up 30.63 points at 7,584.31, while the Nasdaq composite was down 23.02 points at 26,830.96.
U.S. stocks got a lift from a 2.8 per cent drop for the price of Brent crude oil to US$95.03 per barrel. That gave back a chunk of its rise from this week caused by the latest flare-ups of fighting between Iran and the United States and its allies.
The July crude oil contract was down US$2.98 at US$93.04 per barrel.
The expectation on Wall Street seems to be that the United States and Iran will ultimately agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers. That would hopefully improve the flow of crude, lower oil’s price and remove some of the upward pressure on inflation that’s hurting the world.
Such hopes, along with strong profit reports from U.S. companies, helped launch the S&P 500 on a nine-day winning streak that ended Wednesday.
Schleif said markets have been trying “for months” to move beyond the situation in the Middle East.
“They might wiggle a little bit, individual industries or individual sectors might, but the overarching thing that most people are looking at is ... chips. They’re looking at data centres. They’re looking at energy,” she said.
Stocks of smaller companies led the way in the U.S. market Thursday, and the Russell 2000 index of the smallest U.S. stocks jumped 1.4 per cent. They can reap the biggest benefits of falling interest rates, and the yield on the 10-year Treasury dipped to 4.47 per cent from 4.49 per cent late Wednesday as oil prices sank.
Lower yields can make it less expensive for companies to borrow cash, which many smaller companies need to do in order to grow.
Separately, analysts have been saying AI stocks may have run too high, becoming too expensive, and that the broad U.S. stock market may be set for a slowdown after an unrelenting streak of nine straight winning weeks for the S&P 500, its longest since 2023.
Other AI winners likewise gave back some of their big gains. Micron Technology, the latest company to see its total value top US$1 trillion because of AI euphoria, fell 7.7 per cent.
The Canadian dollar traded for 71.96 cents US compared with 72.03 cents US on Wednesday.
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Daniel Johnson, The Canadian Press
With files from The Associated Press.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 4, 2026.
