Canada’s main stock index finished higher Wednesday as U.S. markets also gained ground amid tech enthusiasm and earnings from some of Canada’s largest banks.
“A lot of the stuff that’s been sold off recently is leading the way now. So financials have been sold off. Now they’re leading the way. Tech has been sold off, especially software, and now those names are leading the way,” said Allan Small, senior investment advisor at iA Private Wealth.
Gains in the Canadian stock market were concentrated in the technology and financial sectors. Small said gains in the tech sector appeared to be a spillover from trading in the U.S. market.
BMO Financial Group shares rose 3.82% after it reported a rise in profits that beat analyst expectations despite charges related to layoffs and increased signs of strain for Canadian consumers.
National Bank of Canada gained 6.63% on the day after it reported a first-quarter profit of $1.25 billion, up from $997 million a year earlier, helped by its acquisition of Canadian Western Bank.
Small said earnings from BMO and National Bank were both positive.
“I think the bar is pretty high for these bank stocks in Canada. They’re coming into earnings season at a high point or near a high point,” he said.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 156.95 points at 34,127.33.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 307.65 points at 49,482.15. The S&P 500 index was up 56.06 points at 6,946.13, while the Nasdaq composite was up 288.40 points at 23,152.08.
Technology companies led the way as U.S. stocks erased their losses for the week so far.
Artificial intelligence chipmaker Nvidia was one of the strongest forces lifting the market and rose 1.4% ahead of its highly anticipated profit report, which was scheduled to arrive shortly after trading ended for the day. Because Nvidia has grown to become the U.S. market’s largest stock by value, it has more influence on the S&P 500 than any other company.
“Whenever it comes to Nvidia these days, the bar is set very high. The last earnings were just incredible,” Small said.
For Nvidia, he said it appears that every quarter it “gets more and more difficult to produce earnings that make us excited.”
Nvidia’s profit reports have become a bellwether for the market, not only because it’s so big but also because of how influential the AI boom has broadly become over the market’s moves. In past years, the AI frenzy helped stocks run to record after record amid hopes that it would revolutionize the economy and make it more productive.
More recently, though, concerns have climbed about whether companies like Alphabet and Amazon are spending so much on chips from Nvidia and other equipment that they’ll never be able to make back the investments through future gains in productivity. If that leads to a pullback in spending, it would hit Nvidia directly.
Investors have also begun focusing on companies and industries that could get undercut by AI-powered competitors. That has led to sudden and swift sell-offs for stocks seen as potentially under threat, and spasms have rolled through industries as seemingly disparate as software, trucking logistics and legal services.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.07 cents US compared with 72.95 cents US on Tuesday.
The April crude oil contract was down 21 cents US at US$65.42 per barrel. The April gold contract was up US$49.90 at US$5,226.20 an ounce.
— With files from The Associated Press