Despite massive intraday declines in metals prices, Canadian stocks continued to climb for the fourth consecutive session after the U.S. presidential election results clearly showed Donald Trump as the next president — boosting investors’ confidence in sectors expected to benefit from pro-business policies. While the Dow Jones reached a new record due to this development, the S&P/TSX Composite Index also saw strong gains, rallying 250 points, or 1%, to close at 24,637, the highest in two weeks.
Although weakness in some sectors like healthcare, utilities, and mining pressured the market benchmark, solid performance of technology, energy, and financial stocks pushed the TSX higher.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Shares of iA Financial (TSX:IAG) popped by more than 16% to $133.65 per share after announcing upbeat third-quarter earnings. In the quarter ended in September 2024, the Québec-headquartered insurance giant’s premiums and deposits grew by 25% year over year with strong contributions from the U.S. operations and Canadian individual insurance sales.
In addition, robust performance across segments drove iA Financial’s adjusted quarterly earnings up by 17% from a year ago to $2.93 per share, surpassing Street analysts’ expectations of $2.61 per share. Encouraged by these strong results, the company announced a 10% increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.90 per share and renewed its share buyback program. On a year-to-date basis, IAG stock is now up 48%.
TFI International, Celestica, and Algoma Steel were also among the top gainers on the Toronto Stock Exchange, with each climbing by at least 7.6%.
In contrast, Stella-Jones plunged by nearly 14% after it told investors that lower volumes across all product categories hurt its sales and earnings last quarter.
The cannabis giant Tilray’s shares dived by over 12% following the recent news that Florida voters declined a proposal to legalize recreational marijuana, adding further strain to the cannabis industry.
Bird Construction, Northland Power, and Premium Brands also tanked by at least 7.7% each, making them among the worst-performing TSX stocks for the day.
Based on their daily trade volume, Enbridge, Manulife Financial, Baytex Energy, BCE, and Toronto-Dominion Bank were the five most active stocks on the exchange.
TSX today
Commodity prices across the board were mixed early Thursday morning, pointing to a flat opening for the resource-heavy main TSX index today.
While no major economic releases are due this morning, Canadian investors will closely monitor the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision, statement, and press conference this afternoon, which could give further direction to stocks.
On the corporate events front, several major TSX-listed companies, including Stantec, Definity Financial, IGM Financial, Freehold Royalties, goeasy, Exchange Income, BCE, Lightspeed Commerce, Barrick Gold, TC Energy, Bombardier, and Canadian Tire, will announce their latest quarterly results on November 7.
Market movers on the TSX today
