S&P/TSX composite up more than 100 points, U.S. markets also rise to end November

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This article was published 29/11/2024 (357 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index rose Friday, led by technology and base metal stocks, while U.S. markets also posted gains to end the month of November on a strong note.

“November has been the best-performing month of the whole year, which is not something that’s common,” said Jennifer Tozser, senior wealth adviser and portfolio manager with Tozser Wealth Management at National Bank Financial Wealth Management.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 104.48 points at 25,648.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 188.59 points at 44,910.65. The S&P 500 index was up 33.64 points at 6,032.38, while the Nasdaq composite was up 157.69 points at 19,218.17.

A so-called “Trump bump” brought markets big gains over the past month, as investors made bets on sectors they think will do well under the incoming U.S. president.

The Dow rose 7.5 per cent in November, while the S&P 500 gained 5.7 per cent and the Nasdaq was up 6.2 per cent. The S&P/TSX composite also rose 6.2 per cent.

But despite the unusually strong November, Tozser thinks the annual “Santa Claus rally” is still in the cards for December.

Election nervousness had a lot of money still sitting on the sidelines that’s now ready to flow into the market, she said, and with impending interest rate cuts in December and beyond, “good companies will continue to perform and excel.”

The Bank of Canada is under pressure to keep cutting rates, said Tozser.

“Canada is in a much more vulnerable position,” she said.

“We’re going to have bigger cuts for a longer period of time than the U.S.”

Canada’s economy grew at an annualized rate of one per cent in the third quarter, down from 2.2 per cent in the previous. The figure was lower than the Bank of Canada’s last forecast but in line with economists’ expectations.

Meanwhile, markets have pared back their expectations for cuts in the coming year from the U.S. Federal Reserve, as Trump’s promises of tariffs are considered inflationary.

Markets are currently leaning toward the Fed announcing a quarter-percentage-point cut in December.

U.S. markets were closed Thursday and open for a half-day Friday.

The Canadian dollar traded for 71.38 cents US, unchanged from Thursday.

The January crude oil contract was down 72 cents from Wednesday at US$68 per barrel and the January natural gas contract was up 16 cents at US$3.36 per mmBTU.

The February gold contract was up US$16.20 at US$2,681 an ounce and the March copper contract was flat at US$4.14 a pound.

— With files from The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 29, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)