Canadian Stocks Soar Amid Optimism Over U.S. Shutdown Ending

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks surged on Wednesday as political developments in the U.S. to end the shutdown revived market sentiments and improved risk appetite both in the U.S. and Canada.

After opening just above yesterday's close, the benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index moved steadily higher over the course of the morning and remained firmly positive throughout the after before finally closing at 30,827.58, up by 418.33 (or 1.38%)

Significantly, all eleven of the 11 sectors posted gains today, with the materials sector leading the pack.

Even while the shutdown in the U.S. entered day number 43, attempts that started Sunday night to end the government closure appear to be bearing fruit.

Monday's Senate-advanced short-term funding bill to run the government through January 30 that was formulated by the Republicans with the support of several Democrats is now in the lower house of the U.S. congress. After successful passing, it moves to the president's table for his signature.

With this, the longest shutdown in the history of the U.S. will come to an end.

With the reopening of the government, millions of furloughed federal employees will resume work, several pending and upcoming official economic reports get to be released, and disruption in food assistance to millions of Americans would be thwarted along with the resumption of nonessential services.

Markets and the U.S. Federal Reserve were flying blind with no reliable economic data especially on inflation and jobs.

An end to the impasse would enable the Fed to gauge the economy precisely well ahead of its December meeting. Based on the private data releases so far, traders are currently betting on a 65.4% chance of a 25-basis-point rate cut by the Fed.

Yesterday's weekly update of U.S. ADP's preliminary payroll figures indicated that for the four weeks ending October 25, private employers shed an average of 11,250 jobs a week pointing to continued weakness in the labor market.

On the business front, Loblaw Companies Limited reported its third quarter 2025 earnings, posting a revenue of C$19.4 million in line with forecasts with revenue growth of 4.6% year-over-year. Its Earnings Per Share surpassed expectations with a 1.66% increase.

Hudbay Minerals Inc., reported a sharp drop in its third quarter 2025 earnings. Revenue fell nearly 29% to $346.8 million, adjusted Earnings Per Share fell 77% to $0.03 from $0.13 a year earlier.

Even as trade tensions between Canada and the U.S. is simmering high, top diplomats from the Group of Seven industrialized democracies are on southern Ontario, Canada to discuss critical priorities including tariffs, Gaza Peace Plan, and Russia-Ukraine war.

High-level officials from Canada and the U.S. were involved in hectic parleys over U.S. tariffs on Canada when suddenly U.S. President Donald Trump called off all trade talks, displeased by an advertisement from Canada which mocked Trump's tariffs.

Despite Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney's apology on this issue, Trump declined to reconsider his stance.

There were no major data releases today except for the month-on-month building permits number by Statistics Canada which showed a 4.5% rise to C$11.7 billion in September, surpassing market expectations.

On October 29, the Bank of Canada implemented a rate cut to bring the rates at 2.25%.

The central bank's own quarterly survey report yesterday revealed a consensus opinion that it will be holding the rate before raising to 2.5% in the third quarter 2027.

Major sectors that gained in today's trading were Materials (3.39%), Consumer Staples (2.54%), Industrials (1.50%), Financials (1.47%), Healthcare (1.44%), and Consumer Discretionary (0.90%).

Energy, Communication Services, Real Estate, IT, and Utilities sectors gained anywhere from 0.08% to 0.53%.

Among the individual stocks, Orla Mining Ltd (13.63%), Discovery Silver Corp (8.37%), Ccl Industries Inc (7.33%), Equinox Gold Corp (6.11%), George Weston Limited (3.94%), Loblaw CO (3.70%), Bombardier Inc (6.48%), and TMX Group Ltd (4.08%) were the prominent gainers.

Baytex Energy Corp (13.64%) and Northwest Healthcare Prop (11.94%).