S&P/TSX composite down amid fresh inflation data in Canada and the U.S.

Hamilton Spectator

18 hours ago

TORONTO - Canada's main stock index fell more than 140 points to finish trading Tuesday, while U.S. stock markets were mixed as investors saw fresh inflation data from both countries.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 144.71 points at 27,054.14.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 436.36 points at 44,023.29. The S&P 500 index was down 24.80 points at 6,243.76, while the Nasdaq composite was up 37.47 points at 20,677.80.
'Generally, markets have been pretty cautious with all the trade tensions heating up again,' said Kim Inglis, a senior portfolio manager at Raymond James, in an interview.
Stocks also felt pressure from a report showing inflation in the United States accelerated to 2.7 per cent last month from 2.4 per cent in May. Economists pointed to increases in prices for clothes, toys and other things that tend to get imported from other countries. The latest U.S. inflation update hurt Wall Street's hopes for lower interest rates.
Inflation data from Statistics Canada released Tuesday showed Canada's annual pace of inflation accelerated to 1.9 per cent in June.
'Inflation is obviously something everybody's looking at in general, because there's a lot of concern that the ongoing trade, tariff situation will end up impacting that,' Inglis said.
Trade tensions are also something impacting the performance of the TSX, she said.
'Even with regards to the tariffs, this is something that would weigh on the Canadian markets for sure. And Prime Minister Carney came out and said that it's unlikely that Canada is going to have a trade deal with the U.S. that's going to be completely tariff-free,' she said.
'There are some negative headlines there that are going to impact things overall in terms of sentiment for the day.'
A trade deal with the United States will likely include some tariffs, Prime Minister Mark Carney indicated on Tuesday ahead of a meeting with his cabinet.
On Wall Street, tech stocks were the outliers and rose after Nvidia said the U.S. government had assured it that licenses will be granted for its H20 chip again and that deliveries will hopefully begin soon. Nvidia's four per cent gain was by far the strongest force pushing upward on the S&P 500.
'In general, there's so much interest in AI, and AI is really showing up in all areas of our lives. It's becoming something that's being inserted into virtually every product these days,' Inglis said.
'So I don't think that there is going to be any sort of slowing with that. The demand is there for AI, investments are pouring into AI to build that out.'
Stocks of big U.S. banks, meanwhile, were mixed following their latest earnings reports.
JPMorgan Chase slipped 0.7 per cent despite reporting a stronger profit than analysts expected, as CEO Jamie Dimon warned of risks to the economy because of tariffs and other concerns.
Citigroup rose 3.7 per cent following its better-than-expected profit report. But Wells Fargo fell 5.5 per cent following its own, as it trimmed its forecast for an important way that it makes money.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.94 cents US compared with 73.03 cents US on Monday.
The September crude oil contract was down 44 cents US at US$65.37 per barrel. The August gold contract was down US$22.40 at US$3,336.70 an ounce.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 15, 2025.
Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)
Note to readers:This is a corrected story. A previous version had an incorrect settle price for crude oil.