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Canada’s main stock index rose more than 100 points to reach a new record high despite tariff concerns, as U.S. stock indexes barely budged on Wednesday.
“The markets are still chugging along; I would call it looking for a reason to go higher but also wary of what is going on outside of the fundamentals at the moment as well,” said Sadiq Adatia, chief investment officer of BMO Global Asset Management.
“I see it more moving in a sideways direction … it does want to break out but hasn't got the right catalyst to go higher from here.”
Canada-U.S. trade tensions are back in focus as U.S. President Donald Trump took to social media to issue new tariff threats on generic drug imports into the U.S. That came after he signed a series of executive orders on Monday that would impose a separate 50 per cent tariff on a range of goods coming from Canada.
Adatia said that markets were taking the tariff threats with relative calm. The S&P/TSX composite index was up 116.03 points at 35,485.11.
“People understand that through the whole tariff discussion that we've seen over the last year and a half now, it always starts off with a lot of big noise, but doesn't necessarily end off that way,” he said.
However, the latest tariff threat on generic drugs weighed on shares of Toronto-based generic drug maker Apotex Health Corp., which lost 7.86 per cent on the day.
Separately, shares of Rogers Communications Inc. lost 4.63 per cent after reporting a net loss attributable to shareholders of $726 million in its second quarter.
In the oil market, the September crude oil contract for North American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was up US$2.49 at US$86.83 per barrel. The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 3.4 per cent to US$94.07.
Adatia said the move in oil prices was having a slightly positive effect on Canada’s energy sector and that oil prices are likely to remain “a little bit more elevated than people thought.”
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 6.06 points at 52,218.58. The S&P 500 index was down 10.24 points at 7,498.96, while the Nasdaq composite was down 146.30 points at 25,690.90.
Super Micro Computer soared 19.8 per cent after the seller of AI servers said it expects to report stronger profit margins for the latest quarter than it had earlier forecast. It, though, also said that revenue will likely come in at the low end of its forecasted range of US$11 billion to US$12.5 billion.
Alphabet sank 1.5 per cent ahead of its earnings report, which arrived after trading ended for the day.
Anticipation was high, and not just because the parent company of Google is one of the largest stocks on Wall Street. It’s also one of the biggest spenders on artificial-intelligence technology.
Investors were looking for signs that the deluge of dollars going into processors, computer memory and other building blocks of the AI boom are producing enough profits to make the investments worth it.
The Canadian dollar traded for 70.98 cents US compared with 70.95 cents US on Tuesday.
The August gold contract was up US$75.50 at US$4,151.90 an ounce.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 22, 2026.
— With files from The Associated Press
Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD, TSX:APTX, TSX:RCI.B)
Daniel Johnson, The Canadian Press
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