Canadian Stocks Rise Incrementally As Investors Assess PMI Data

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks closed slightly higher on Monday as traders parsed economic data that signaled a slower contraction in manufacturing activity ahead of Prime Minister Mark Carney government's budget to be tabled on Tuesday.

After opening just above previous week's close, the benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index gave ground early in the session but then rebounded to finally close at 30,275.06, up by 14.32 points (or 0.05%).

Five of the 11 sectors posted gains today, with the consumer discretionary sector leading the pack.

Today, data released by S&P Global revealed that Canada's Manufacturing PMI rose to 49.6 in October from 47.7 in September, indicating a somewhat slower contraction since January.

The data further revealed that both output and new orders fell at much weaker rates, with new orders slipping to their weakest pace in this year. Tariffs and volatile trade policies remained the main constraint, hitting export sales, delaying customs, and keeping input costs elevated.

Later this week, fresh data on employment is scheduled to be released.

Over the last week, U.S. President Donald Trump stated that the U.S. and Canada will not restart trade-related talks.

An advertisement by the Ontario government featuring former U.S. President Ronald Reagan wherein he commented that tariffs on foreign goods lead to wars and job losses earned the displeasure of Trump, who called the advertisement fake.

Though Trump stated that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney apologized for what happened with the "false" commercial, he called off negotiations.

Notably, until this happened, high-level Canadian officials had been discussing with their U.S. counterparts to strike a tariff framework with the U.S. which did not yield any breakthrough development. Canada is suffering 35% tariffs on its exports to the U.S.

With growth slowing and unemployment rising, Carney's approach to rebuild the economy is a twin-pronged strategy involving strengthening the domestic economy and forging strong trade alliances with non-U.S. nations.

Carney highlighted that his strategy is showing results citing specifically India where both nations are progressing well in trade talks.

Last Friday, Chinese President Xi Jinping invited Carney to China to sort out bilateral trade issues.

Last Wednesday, the Bank of Canada lowered interest rates to 2.25% at which time the central bank governor Tiff Macklem reiterated that the structural damage caused by the U.S. tariff war cannot be fixed by lowering of interest rates alone.

Tomorrow (November 4) Canada's Minister of Finance and National Revenue, François-Philippe Champagne, will table Budget 2025.

The much-anticipated fiscal policy gains more prominence as recently Carney asserted that the budget would empower and protect Canadians.

While some economists have expressed concerns that this year's deficit could run to as high as $100 billion, analysts are focused on the budget to know what is in store for the economy.

Major sectors that gained in today's trading were Consumer Discretionary (1.13%), Financials (0.59%), Energy (0.27%), Utilities (0.22%), and Materials (0.16%).

Among the individual stocks, Magna International Inc (4.53%), Pet Valu Holdings Ltd (2.59%), Aritizia Inc (2.39%), and Manulife Fin (2.27%) were the prominent gainers.

Major sectors that lost in today's trading were Communication Services (0.43%), Industrials (0.50%), Consumer Staples (0.56%), Real Estate (0.74%), and Healthcare (0.79%).

Among the individual stocks, Bausch Health Companies Inc (2.83%), Curaleaf Holdings Inc (1.01%), Allied Properties Real Estate Inv Trust (3.04%), Canada Packers Inc WI (3.41%), and Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc (2.34%) were the notable losers.

Aya Gold and Silver Inc (3.69%) and Capital Power Corp (3.65%) were among the prime market-moving stocks today.