Equity markets see ‘continued momentum’ on Monday as fundamentals came into focus

TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index finished up more than 300 points on Monday, helped by strength in the materials sector, while U.S. stock markets also surged higher amid a focus on fundamentals. 

“You’re seeing this continued momentum, I think people are shrugging off potential noise and sticking to the fundamentals, which I think is a really good thing on that front,” said Sadiq Adatia, chief investment officer at BMO Global Asset Management.  

“When you look at underlying fundamentals, things are still looking good. And you’ve got rate cuts continuing on, that should help fuel things.”

He added that despite the ongoing tariff situation, trade tensions between the U.S. and China appear to have “calmed down a little bit.” 

Last week, Adatia noted investors saw strong earnings reports from major U.S. banks, including Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo.

This week features a raft of big names reporting their latest quarterly results, including Coca-Cola on Tuesday, Tesla on Wednesday and Procter & Gamble on Friday.

The pressure is on companies broadly to show that their profits are growing following a torrid run for the S&P 500, which is up of 35 per cent from a low in April. 

Corporate profit reports have also taken on more importance because they offer windows into the strength of the U.S. economy when the U.S. government’s shutdown has delayed important economic updates.

Adatia highlighted a report on Apple Inc.’s iPhone sales appeared more positive than expected.

Figures from Counterpoint, a tech-focused market research firm, showed that sales for the latest iPhone series outpaced the previous versions in the U.S. and China during the first 10 days of availability. 

Apple’s stock led the way and rose 3.9 per cent amid optimism about demand for its latest iPhone design. It was the strongest force lifting the S&P 500 and set its own record high.

“You don’t see those types of moves on Apple too often these days. So that’s a big positive sign that things are looking really, really good on the sales side,” Adatia said. 

Elsewhere in the U.S. tech sector, Amazon’s stock held up despite a widespread outage for its cloud computing service that caused disruption for internet users around the world Monday. Amazon’s stock rose 1.6 per cent.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 515.97 points at 46,706.58. The S&P 500 index was up 71.12 points at 6,735.13, while the Nasdaq composite was up 310.57 points at 22,990.54.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 307.96 points at 30,416.44.

The December gold contract was up US$146.10 at US$4,359.40 an ounce.

With gold prices soaring on Tuesday, Adatia noted the price of the precious metal could continue to rise. 

“We’re very bullish on gold still, I think we had a call of US$4,000 (per ounce) earlier, just less than a month ago, and we soared right through that. So US$5,000 is not out of the question for next year,” Adatia said. 

The Canadian dollar traded for 71.25 cents US compared with 71.25 cents US on Friday.

The December crude oil contract was down 13 cents US at US$57.02 per barrel.

The December gold contract was up US$146.10 at US$4,359.40 an ounce.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 20, 2025.  

— With files from The Associated Press

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