Canadian Stocks Scale New Record Highs Amid Upbeat Bank Stocks

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks scaled a new peak on Wednesday as investors cheered stronger-than-expected earnings from banking stocks with stellar RBC results in focus.

After opening a little higher than yesterday's close, the benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index moved up to trade firmly positive throughout the session while reaching an intraday high of 28,468.34 - a new record - less than half-hour before the close of session.

The index finally settled at a new record closing high of 28,433.00, up by 93.12 points (or 0.33%).

Slapped with 35% tariff on a majority of Canadian goods exported to the US, Prime Minister Mark Carney is seeking ways to better Canadian domestic businesses as well as to smoothen US-Canada trade talks.

Last week, Carney dropped most of the retaliatory tariffs on goods from the US that are covered by the Canada-US-Mexico Agreement, a move welcomed by the White House. However, Canada's counter-tariffs on steel, aluminum and automobiles still remain.

Yesterday, Canada-US Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc had a "constructive [and] lengthy" meeting with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in Washington.

On the data side, today was an uneventful day for Canadian economy.

On the earnings side, exceeding estimates, Royal Bank of Canada posted net income of C$5.4 billion for Q3 2025, a 21% year-over-year rise which helped its shares jump more than 5.8% in early trading.

Montreal-based National Bank of Canada reported a third-quarter profit of C$1.07 billion, up from C$1.03 billion a year earlier.

Being an index heavy weight, gains by RBC pushed the TSX composite higher. However, the materials index, which tracks gold prices, was pressured by a firm dollar as well as profit-taking.

The central bank and the finance ministry jointly review the inflation target every five years and formally announce a decision, with the next review set for 2026.

Yesterday, Governor Tiff Macklem stated that the Bank of Canada will not review its inflation target as it feels that the current 2% has helped anchor inflation expectations and has benefitted Canadian economy.

The central bank has held its trendsetting overnight interest rate steady for its last three policy meetings at 2.75%.

The Bank of Canada is scheduled to again decide on interest rates on September 17.

Major sectors that gained in today's trading were Energy (1.42%), Financials (1.23%), Healthcare (0.96%), and Communication Services (0.89%).

Among the individual stocks, Royal Bank of Canada (5.08%), Onex Corp (1.99%), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (1.70%), and Nuvista Energy Ltd (3.44%) were the prominent gainers.

Major sectors that lost in today's trading were Industrials (0.11%), Utilities (0.19%), Materials (0.53%), and Consumer Discretionary (1.04%).

Among the individual stocks, Orla Mining Ltd (3.53%), Ivanhoe Mines Ltd (3.25%), Dollarama Inc (3.64%), and Capital Power Corp (2.07%) were the notable losers.