Canadian stocks moved higher Thursday morning, after data showing a lower-than-expected US CPI reading raised hopes of more interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve in the coming months.
Technology, financials, consumer discretionary and healthcare stocks were among the notable gainers. Several stocks from real estate, industrials and utilities sectors too moved higher.
The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index was up 309.93 points or 0.99% at 31,559.95 a little while ago.+309.96(+0.99%)
Technology stocks Shopify Inc, Lightspeed Commerce and Bitfarms surged 4 to 5%. Blackline Safety Corp., BlackBerry and Open Text Corp. gained 1 to 1.5%.
In the financials sector, Brookfield Asset Management, Brookfield Corporation, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Sprott, Manulfe Financial, Royal Bank of Canada, Candian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Bank of Nova Scotia and Trisura Group gained 1 to 3%.
Consumer discretionary stock Aritzia climbed nearly 7%. Gildan Activewear surged 2.9%, Linama Corp advanced 2.3% and Magna International moved up 2.1%. Pet Valu Holdings gained about 1.3%.
Healthcare stocks Curaleaf Holdings and Sienna Senior Living gained 2.3% and 2.2%, respectively. Bausch Health Companies moved up nearly 1%.
Data from the Labor Department showed the annual rate of growth by the consumer prices in the U.S. slowed to 2.7% in November from 3% in September. Economists had expected the annual rate of growth to tick up to 3.1%.
The annual rate of growth by core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, also slowed to 2.6% in November from 3% in September. The pace of core price growth was expected to remain unchanged.
The Labor Department noted that survey data for October 2025 was not collected due to the government shutdown.
The unexpected slowdowns by the annual rates of price growth is likely to increase confidence about the Federal Reserve continuing to lower interest rates in the new year.
A separate report released by the Labor Department showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits declined roughly in line with economist estimates in the week ended December 13th.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
December 12, 2025 15:14 ET Central bank decisions dominated the economic news flow this week led by the Federal Reserve. Trade data from the U.S. also gained attention. The Canadian and Swiss central banks also announced their interest rate decisions. Inflation data from China was in focus as the country released the latest consumer price and producer price data.