TORONTO — Canada's main stock index finished higher on Tuesday, as gains in basic materials offset broader losses, while U.S. markets fell on the start of a historically weak month for equity markets.
Philip Petursson, chief investment strategist at IG Wealth Management, said Tuesday’s trading session seemed like a “classic September swoon.”
“We've noted as well as so many others that September historically is the weakest month of the year for the S&P 500. You have a higher probability of downside, and it's almost as if it's becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy,” he said.
“We say it enough that people believe it, and then all of a sudden it gets priced into the market as soon as September starts.”
Overall, he said, pullbacks are healthy for the market.
“This is the natural course of price appreciation. Two steps forward, maybe one step back, but you are moving forward,” Petursson said.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 51.17 points at 28,615.62.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 249.07 points at 45,295.81. The S&P 500 index was down 44.72 points at 6,415.54, while the Nasdaq composite was down 175.92 points at 21,279.63. The S&P 500 fell 0.7 per cent for its worst day in a month after paring a loss that earlier reached 1.5 per cent.
Petursson attributed some of the market declines to sentiment.
“We've completed Q2 earnings season, and it was stronger than many expected. The tariff story is, I would argue, either known or just about over with,” he said.
“So this is the market saying, ‘We had a great summer, September's usually bad, so let's get out right now’ and just driving it lower by the very sake of believing that it will be lower.”
Big Tech companies led U.S. markets lower. They've been soaring for years on expectations that they'll continue to dominate the economy, but they also shot so high that critics say their prices became too expensive.
Nvidia, whose chips are powering much of the world’s move into artificial-intelligence technology, fell two per cent and was the single strongest force pulling the S&P 500 downward.
Petursson said he thinks the decline was driven by investors deciding to “sell the winners.”
He added that megacap tech companies have been in the spotlight, and he doesn’t think there was anything other than sentiment driving Nvidia shares lower.
On the TSX, all sectors finished lower, except health care and the basic materials sector.
“Gold is running higher, so that's being priced into the materials side,” he said.
Petursson added that other sectors on the TSX were trading down “in sympathy” with the move lower on U.S. markets.
The December gold contract was up US$76.10 at US$3,592.20 an ounce.
At the current price of gold, Petursson said he thinks the commodity is at fair value.
“But during rallies, gold doesn't tend to stop at fair value; it tends to push on through it. So this run can continue ... the rally in gold can continue, and it's supportive for the TSX,” he said.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.52 cents US compared with 72.77 cents US on Friday.
The October crude oil contract was up US$1.58 at US$65.59 per barrel.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 2, 2025.
— With files from The Associated Press.
Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)
Daniel Johnson, The Canadian Press
