Canadian stocks continued to fall sharply on Friday before getting into the long Civic Holiday weekend, as escalating trade tensions, mixed corporate earnings, and weakening crude oil prices weighed on investor sentiment. The S&P/TSX Composite Index plunged by 239 points, or 0.9%, to settle at 27,020 — marking its steepest single-day percentage decline in over three months.
Nearly all key market sectors ended the session in the red, but the TSX selloff was mainly led by heavy losses in technology, healthcare, and financial stocks.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Brookfield Renewable Partners, First Quantum Minerals, Open Text, and NexGen Energy were the worst-performing TSX stocks for the day, with each diving by at least 4%.
Despite the broader market weakness, MDA Space (TSX:MDA) jumped 18.4% to $45.93 per share, making it the day’s top-performing TSX stock. These solid gains in MDA stock came after the Toronto-based firm announced a major US$1.3 billion contract win from EchoStar to build the world’s first 3GPP 5G-compliant direct-to-device low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation.
The MDA-EchoStar deal includes over 100 software-defined satellites, with the potential to expand to more than 200. This marks MDA’s fourth LEO constellation contract in just over three years. Its stock rally reflects investor excitement over the scale and strategic importance of the deal, which significantly boosts the company’s backlog. MDA stock is now up 55.5% on a year-to-date basis.
Dundee Precious Metals, Capstone Copper, and Aecon Group were also among the session’s top gainers on the Toronto Stock Exchange, with each climbing by over 3%.
Based on their daily trade volume, Enbridge, Baytex Energy, Tourmaline Oil, Cenovus Energy, and Whitecap Resources were the five most active stocks on the exchange.
TSX today
Crude oil and natural gas prices fell sharply in early Tuesday trading, signalling potential headwinds for TSX energy stocks at the open today.
While no major domestic economic releases are due, Canadian investors may want to keep an eye on the latest non-manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) and services PMI data from the United States this morning, which could offer fresh clues about the health of the world’s largest economy.
On the corporate events front, many large TSX-listed companies, including Suncor Energy, Parkland, Great-West Lifeco, NexGen Energy, SSR Mining, Finning International, iA Financial, Dream Industrial REIT, International Petroleum, and Pet Valu, will release their latest earnings reports today.
Market movers on the TSX today
