Canadian stocks surged on Wednesday as U.S.-Iran peace talks progressed with high momentum, easing concerns of inflation and raising optimism on the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
After opening above yesterday's close, today the benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index traded firmly positive throughout the session before settling at 34,161.82, up by 420.58 points (or 1.25%).
Ten of the 11 sectors posted gains today, with the consumer discretionary sector leading the pack.
The U.S.-Israel military offensive against Iran (Operation Epic Fury) entered day number 82 today.
The ceasefire announced by the U.S. administration nearly six weeks before to allow diplomacy to settle the crisis has so far not yielded any breakthrough.
Returning from China last week, U.S. President Donald Trump stepped up pressure on Iran through a series of posts via Truth Social asking them to sign a deal quickly.
On Sunday, Trump urged the Iranian regime to act fast, failing which he warned that nothing would be left of the country.
By Monday, Iran submitted a peace proposal containing 14 key features for the U.S. to review.
While the Trump's administration delayed its response, Trump announced that he had called off an expansive attack on Iran at the request of leaders from the Arabian Gulf who assured him that negotiations were happening seriously and sounded optimistic on good results.
Later, claiming that he was only an hour away from ordering the strikes before pausing them, Trump stated that the U.S. has now given only a limited period of time for Iran to settle the dispute amicably.
Today, Trump remarked that the crisis is in the final stages and would end quickly.
Trump predicted both the possibilities where either a deal could be reached, failing which the U.S. would respond fiercely which he did not want to happen.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps counter-threatened that a renewed war would extend beyond the gulf.
On the diplomatic front, Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi is in Iran, second time within a week to facilitate exchange of messages as Iran is currently reviewing a U.S.-sent proposal.
During a briefing at White House, U.S. Vice President JD Vance stated that this is not a forever war and reaffirmed that a lot of progress has been made in the negotiations with Iran.
The IRGC stated that 26 ships, which coordinated with the Iranian authorities, were let to pass through the Strait of Hormuz over the past 24 hours.
Saudia Arabia's state news agency Al-Hadath reported that Pakistan could announce the final draft of a peace deal between the U.S. and Iran, and added that intensive work is underway to finalize the text of agreement.
On the monetary front, with the recent data showing a 0.40% rise for April month's consumer prices, and the headline inflation moving higher to 2.80% from 2.40% (lower than the anticipated 3.10%) driven by 8.9% jump in gasoline prices, economists are doubtful of any possible rate cuts by the Bank of Canada through the end of the year.
Major sectors that gained in today's trading were Consumer Discretionary (2.61%), Materials (2.34%), Real Estate (2.02%), Healthcare (1.88%), Financials (1.85%), and IT (1.57%).
Among the individual stocks, Gildan Activewear Inc (4.71%), Aritzia Inc (4.06%), Pet Valu Holdings Ltd (3.94%), Goeasy Ltd (11.81%), Perpetua Resources Corp (11.53%), and Seabridge Gold Inc (10.93%) were the prominent gainers.
Energy (2.34%) was the only sector that lost in today's trading.
Among the individual stocks, Strathcona Resources Ltd (4.91%), Vermillion Energy Inc (4.62%), Athabasca Oil Corp (4.42%), and Cenovus Energy Inc (4.05%) were the notable losers.
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Market Analysis
May 15, 2026 15:25 ET Apart from the confirmation of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair, the main news on the economics front this week included key price data from the U.S. and the first quarter economic growth figures from major economies. Both consumer prices and producer costs have started to reflect the effect of supply shocks due to the Middle East conflict. In Europe, GDP data was in focus, while inflation data from China dominated the news flow in Asia.