Category: Markets

October 2, 2026

Dear Clients,

This week, I travelled to Europe with a dozen other portfolio managers from several of Canada’s largest investment management firms to meet with the leaders of our portfolio companies. Building on last year’s visit to Japan, these conversations help me better understand the people running the businesses we own, challenge my own assumptions and compare approaches with other experienced investors.

Three themes stood out: the growing cost of security, the spread of artificial intelligence, and accelerating rates of change in consumer habits. Each creates opportunities and challenges for the businesses we follow. The conversations helped put those changes in perspective and raised questions worth sharing.

Geopolitics and the Cost of Security

The conversations with aerospace and defence companies, including BAE Systems, Thales, and Safran, have been sobering. A recurring concern is that investors are underestimating geopolitical risks. Discussions have ranged from the risk of the war in Ukraine spreading, to prolonged disruption around the Strait of Hormuz, and what these conflicts might mean for China’s plans for Taiwan.

These concerns feel more concrete when they come from people making business decisions that reach decades into the future. A factory, an aircraft programme, or a new supply chain cannot change direction as quickly as a political speech. The relationships between defence contractors and governments are complex and vary by country. To understand the investment opportunity, we need to look beyond the spending commitments to how contracts are structured and what companies can earn.

The financial consequences extend beyond defence companies. Governments face competing demands for spending, while businesses must consider whether their supply chains remain dependable as trading relationships change. Adjusting takes time and money. Companies with steady cash flows and manageable debts have more freedom to respond, which is one reason we continue to value those qualities.

AI and the Search for Growth

Artificial intelligence has appeared in virtually every company discussion. The interesting difference has been how far some businesses have had to stretch to explain their connection. It is becoming difficult to find a corporate presentation that does not contain an AI slide.

Some of the opportunities are substantial. Better software and faster research could help businesses do more with the people and money they already have. That would be especially useful in countries with aging populations, worker shortages, and stretched government budgets. These were familiar themes in Japan, and they have followed us to Europe.

For investors, the harder question is who keeps the gains. Does a company become more profitable, or does competition force it to pass the savings to customers? How much must it spend before the benefits arrive? And how much of that future success are we already paying for in the share price?

A useful technology can become widely adopted without producing exceptional returns for every company involved. We need to understand whether a business has something customers will continue to pay for once its competitors have access to the same tools.

We can be optimistic about the technology while remaining selective about the investments.

Changing Consumer Habits

Another theme has been the spread of GLP-1 medicines, including treatments used for diabetes and weight loss. Their effects now reach well beyond the drug companies that make them.

The scale is striking. In research published in November 2025, Circana estimated that 23% of U.S. households included someone using a GLP-1 medication over the course of a year. That is nearly one household in four.

At Danone, the discussion of Greek yogurt offered a useful example. People eating less may become more interested in protein, nutrition, and the value they get from each purchase. That creates opportunities for some products and challenges for others, particularly those that depend on frequent snacking.

For a food company, a small change in what millions of people buy can make a large difference to profits. A familiar brand remains valuable, but it cannot assume that customers will always want the same things.

This is the sort of change that can be easy to miss when looking only at broad economic forecasts. It requires us to understand the customer, the product, and whether the company is keeping up.

What This Means for Our Investments

These meetings reinforce our view that there are good investments to be found in a complicated world. We favour businesses with dependable cash flows, manageable debts, and products or services that customers continue to need. Those qualities give a company choices when conditions change.

Price remains an essential part of that judgment. A well-run company can be a poor investment if the price leaves little room for disappointment. The meetings help us understand what a business might earn over time. We still have to decide what we are willing to pay for those earnings.

Global diversification remains important. The forces discussed here affect countries and industries differently, and the most interesting opportunities will not all appear in the same place. Owning investments across markets gives us more ways to participate in growth, while reducing our dependence on any one outcome.

Bringing the Perspective Home

Meetings like these rarely produce a single conclusion about where markets will go next. They are more useful for uncovering assumptions that deserve another look.

I remain optimistic about the ability of good businesses to adapt. People continue to find ways to solve problems, improve products, and serve customers. There was plenty of that ingenuity on display in London and Paris.

That work continues at home in Victoria as we compare what we have heard with our research. These conversations help us make more informed decisions about the businesses we own, the prices we pay, and the risks we take on your behalf.

Thank you for your continued trust.

Sincerely,

Kevin Burkett
Burkett Asset Management Limited

August 11, 2026

TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index finished narrowly positive to add to its all-time highs, helped by gains in the utilities and industrial sectors.

“Markets have been buoyed by earnings. I think that there’s pretty tremendous optimism in markets right now,” said Kevin Burkett, portfolio manager at Victoria-based Burkett Asset Management.

“We’re in that interesting time where we’re coming to the end of the summer and as much as you’d like to think markets are more sophisticated, I do find that come September, October, people get back to work and recalibrate around expectations,” Burkett said.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 17.59 points at 36,475.92. 

Some of the bigger movers included shares of Cargojet, which rose 8.59 per cent after it reported a $7 million second-quarter profit, up from a $3.2 million loss last year. 

Burkett said Cargojet’s results were positive with stronger-than-expected revenue. 

Meanwhile, Cineplex Inc. lost 5.3 per cent even though it swung to a profit in the second quarter, helped by a strong film slate and presentations of FIFA World Cup matches. 

RBC analyst Drew McReynolds said in a note to investors that the company fell short on adjusted profit. 

“The results today suggested that there are still some challenges ahead in terms of how they attract people to come out to movie theatres; it’s very expensive,” Burkett said.

Burkett said markets overall appear to be faring well despite recent Canada-U.S. trade tensions.     

“There are these headlines that maybe 10 years ago would have spooked markets, but I think markets have desensitized to a lot of that rhetoric, and I think we wait to see,” he said. 

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 184.13 points at 53,791.85. The S&P 500 index was down 24.91 points at 7,728.20, while the Nasdaq composite was down 159.91 points at 26,445.45.   

Wall Street’s attention was focused on Wednesday, when the U.S. government will release the latest monthly reading on inflation. 

“That’ll be interesting; we had a lot of expectations around interest rate cuts that had seemed to have gone away while we wait to see whether oil results in inflation,” Burkett said.

Economists expect the report to show U.S. inflation remains high but that it decelerated to 3.4 per cent in July from 3.5 per cent in June. 

That could help the U.S. Federal Reserve, whose members are notably split on whether they should be raising the country’s interest rates to keep a lid on inflation. 

While higher rates could help slow the increases of prices on store shelves, they would also slow the overall U.S. economy. They would also undercut prices for stocks and other investments. 

The Canadian dollar traded for 71.80 cents US compared with 71.73 cents US on Monday.

The September crude oil contract was up US$1.07 at US$83.20 per barrel.

The December gold contract was up US$21.40 at US$4,441.10 an ounce. 

July 16, 2026

TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index moved nearly 100 points higher on Wednesday as strength in the financial sector helped offset weakness in basic materials and technology stocks, while U.S. markets also rose.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 95.66 points at 35,416.20.

The reaction of the market was mostly “muted” after the Bank of Canada announced it was holding its key policy rate steady, said Kevin Burkett, portfolio manager at Victoria-based Burkett Asset Management.

The central bank’s benchmark interest rate remains at 2.25 per cent after the sixth consecutive hold. Its decision, which was widely expected by economists, came as the economy still grapples with heightened uncertainty.

Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem said officials see the current rate as being at the right level to return inflation back to two per cent and support an economic recovery, but that the bank’s governing council is still ready to adjust its policy rate if needed.

“It’s harder for (the Bank of Canada) to cut because that is going to show up in our currency,” said Burkett.

“There’s enormous cross-border flows and what tends to happen is if you have your rate … significantly different than the U.S., you tend to pay back in a weaker currency and now you’re just importing inflation.”

He added the central bank is likely “waiting for clear evidence on inflation persistence” as uncertainty continues surrounding the United States’ war with Iran.

“What is Donald Trump doing in the Middle East? How does that situation evolve over the balance of the summer? I think that’s the question that everyone is asking,” Burkett said.

“It’s in the category of unknowables.”

Macklem emphasized Wednesday that much of the bank’s outlook and policy stance hinges on the global energy market. If gas prices move up again and remain high for longer, a series of rate hikes are still on the table to guard against persistent inflation.

Meanwhile, new macroeconomic data out of the U.S. on the day suggested inflation south of the border was softer than expected.

The U.S. Department of Labor reported Wednesday that its producer price index — which captures inflation before it reaches consumers — dropped 0.3 per cent from May to June.

Compared with a year earlier, it was up 5.5 per cent in June, decelerating from a six per cent increase the month before. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core wholesale prices were up 4.7 per cent from June 2025 and 0.2 per cent from May.

That had a positive effect on stocks and bonds which are watching the geopolitical situation in the Middle East closely, said Burkett.

“Disruption on oil flows out of the Strait of Hormuz is very inflationary because it potentially sends oil prices higher,” he said.

“Softer-than-expected results … tempers any likelihood of (an interest rate) hike, and it’s good for stocks because, of course, some of these inflationary pressures get absorbed into businesses’ margins in terms of attempting to pass on as much of those costs to end consumers.”

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 150.37 points at 52,658.64. The S&P 500 index was up 28.81 points at 7,572.40, while the Nasdaq composite was up 162.22 points at 26,269.23.

The Canadian dollar traded for 71.18 cents US compared with 71.09 cents US on Tuesday.

The August crude oil contract was up 26 cents US at US$79.60 per barrel.

The August gold contract was down US$17.90 at US$4,051.80 an ounce.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 15, 2026.

June 11, 2026

TORONTO — Stock markets rallied in Canada and the U.S. after President Donald Trump called off a threat to bomb Iran, raising hopes for a deal between the countries.

Kevin Burkett, portfolio manager at Victoria-based Burkett Asset Management, said Trump’s comments injected optimism into the market.

“The tone really shifted when Trump announced he was not going to be advancing on his attack in Iran,” he said.

Stocks immediately veered higher in midday trading after Trump said on his social media network that “discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved” and that the time and place of a signing will “be announced shortly.”

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 520.14 points at 34,671.46.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 929.97 points at 50,848.75. The S&P 500 index was up 127.31 points at 7,394.30, while the Nasdaq composite was up 640.16 points at 25,809.66.

Burkett said markets have already seen cycles of threats and de-escalations since hostilities began in late February.

“Markets appear to be pricing Trump’s rhetoric asymmetrically. Positive updates are treated as actionable signals, while negative updates are discounted as performance pressure or negotiation theatre,” he said.

Burkett said that when markets reward hope more than they penalize risk, “the prudent response is not to chase the rally.”

A deal to end the war with Iran could reopen the Strait of Hormuz and allow oil tankers to carry crude again from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide.

The July crude oil contract was down US$2.32 at US$87.71 per barrel.

Worries had been high because the United States and Iran launched attacks over the past several days threatening a more than month-long tenuous ceasefire.

Meanwhile, big swings for AI stocks have been yanking the U.S. stock market up and down over the last week, as they went from roaring to records to suddenly turning lower. The big concern is whether such stocks shot too high, too fast because of AI mania, and their careening moves have sometimes reversed direction by the hour.

AI stocks had already been rolling back up their roller-coaster early Thursday, before Trump made his announcement on Iran.

On the TSX, the basic materials and consumer cyclicals sectors added the most points to the overall index.

Shares of Dollarama Corp. rose nine per cent after it reported results for the first quarter, which its chief financial officer characterized as “smooth,” even as war in the Middle East blocked key fuel shipping routes and posed challenges for retailers.

Burkett said that as the Canadian economy continues to see pressure, particularly at the household level, discount stores are continuing to perform well.

The Canadian dollar traded for 71.46 cents US compared with 71.79 cents US on Wednesday.

The August gold contract was down US$19.30 at US$4,114.00 an ounce.

June 10, 2026

Shares of Canadian generic drug manufacturer Apotex Health (APTX.TO) jumped in their Toronto market debut on Wednesday, with the initial public offering ​raising about C$1.3 billion in gross proceeds, making it the largest IPO for the ‌TSX in five years.

The stock opened at $28, about 17% above the IPO price. The Toronto-based company priced its upsized offering on Tuesday, saying it sold 54.17 million common shares at $24, which was the top of the range.

“The ​success of the Apotex IPO signals that high-quality Canadian businesses can still access deep ​public capital markets and provides investors with exposure to a sector very ⁠underrepresented on the TSX,” said Kevin Burkett, portfolio manager at Victoria-based Burkett Asset Management.

“No doubt, ​Apotex’s successful launch will encourage Canadian companies waiting on the sidelines to revisit public markets as ​a viable path for growth capital or liquidity,” Burkett said.

The IPO was the largest since property and casualty insurer Definity Financial (DFY.TO) raised about C$1.6 billion in 2021, reviving a market that has only seen seven IPOs since ​2022.

Investors said the offering gives them a rare opportunity to hold a piece of a ​Canadian health company in an index that is largely dominated by financials, oil and mining stocks.

It comes at ‌a crucial ⁠time as investors await blockbuster IPOs of SpaceX in the United States later this week and await details of other mega IPOs including AI giants Anthropic and OpenAI.

Apotex, owned by New York private equity firm SK Capital Partners before the IPO, is betting on launching more high-margin drugs, expansion in ​Mexico and the Middle ​East and the launch ⁠of over a hundred generic pharmaceutical products.

The company, founded in 1974 by Barry Sherman, manufactures over 800 pharmaceutical and consumer health products, serves in ​about 70 countries and employs over 6,000 people worldwide.

Sherman and his ​wife were tragically murdered ⁠in their Toronto home in 2017; the case remains unsolved. In 2022, the company was sold to SK Partners, which will continue to be a majority shareholder.

Net income at the end of fiscal ⁠2026 ​stood at C$373.8 million, nearly double its earnings in 2025. ​Its total debt ballooned to C$2.9 billion that year, compared with C$2.1 billion in 2025.

RBC Capital Markets, TD Securities, and ​Scotiabank were among the syndicate of underwriters.

May 29, 2026

Kevin Burkett, portfolio manager at Burkett Asset Management, joins BNN Bloomberg to discuss the Canadian markets.

May 29, 2026

Money manager Kevin Burkett tries to avoid stocks in sectors that rely on short-term predictions.

Instead, the partner and portfolio manager at Victoria-based Burkett Asset Management Ltd. prefers to focus on businesses with understandable economics and recurring demand, such as consumer discretionary, industrials and some technology.

“We tend to favour high-quality businesses that have durability in their revenue streams,” says Mr. Burkett, a self-described long-term, value-oriented investor who oversees more than $500-million in assets.

His firm’s strategy includes seeking out companies with strong balance sheets and an ability to compound growing cash flows over time.

“That’s quite separate from trying to predict day-to-day fluctuations based on news headlines, which we’re seeing a lot of these days,” he says.

Mr. Burkett also uses fixed income to help balance his portfolios and has recently been selectively adding corporate bonds issued by high-quality businesses that he says may fall outside traditional investment-grade rating criteria due to their size, capital structure or other issuer-specific factors.

“There are really interesting opportunities there and, as spreads continue to tighten as they have, investors in non-investment grades should be well rewarded.”

The firm’s balanced portfolio, which includes an approximately 60-40 split of stocks and bonds, was up 13.9 per cent over the past 12 months. Its three-year annualized return was 10.9 per cent, while its five-year annualized return was 8.6 per cent. The performance is based on total returns, gross of fees, as of April 30. (Fees range from 0.40 per cent to 1.25 per cent depending on the size of a client’s portfolio.)

The Globe spoke with Mr. Burkett recently about what he’s been buying and selling:

Name three stocks you own today and why.

Constellation Software Inc.CSU-T is a stock we’ve wanted to own since we started our business in 2015, but we always felt it was too expensive. We later realized that it wasn’t expensive enough. We started buying the stock late last summer, when it dropped on the unexpected news that its founder and president, Mark Leonard, was stepping down [for unspecified health reasons]. The stock has continued to drop – and is down about 50 per cent over the past year – as investors worry about the impact of AI on software companies.

We’ve continued to buy the stock into this AI-related weakness. To us, it’s a fundamentally strong company trading at a very attractive valuation because there’s still a need for its software, which is hard to replace with AI.

Constellation also remains one of the highest-quality compounders in global markets. The company has built a highly decentralized acquisition machine focused on acquiring mission-critical vertical-market software businesses with recurring revenue characteristics and strong customer retention. It’s a winning strategy.

Colliers International Group Inc. CIGI-T is a stock we started buying in March and continue to add to on weakness. Most people see Colliers as just a real estate brokerage business, particularly in commercial and investment properties. However, it has moved into recurring, higher-margin service lines such as investment management, engineering and outsourcing.

The stock has dropped on AI-related concerns that people will be somewhat less inclined to use real estate brokers as AI becomes a tool. However, we believe the way investment properties are bought and sold requires a human element to match buyers and sellers and to facilitate the exchange of confidential information. It has a recurring business model and isn’t as tied to transaction volumes as people think. It’s a niche business we think many investors misunderstand.

Fanuc Corp. FANUY, a Japan-based robotics company, is a stock we’ve owned since our firm started in 2015 and added to over the years. The stock has doubled over the past year alone.

Fanuc is a global leader in automation and industrial robotics. It’s our best idea around where manufacturers are continuing to go to address labour shortages and productivity pressures, and to build resilience into their supply chains more generally.

Short-term industrial cyclicality has created opportunities to buy businesses such as Fanuc at valuations that are attractive relative to their long-term potential. We think it will continue to perform better as it gains recognition as a leading supplier to some of these chip manufacturers and as one that’s very hard to replace.

Name a stock you’ve sold recently.

Intercontinental Hotels Group ADR IHG-N, the company behind hotel chains such as InterContinental, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn, is a stock we’ve owned since the firm started and bought more of during the pandemic. We sold the stock in mid-April for US$147.69 a share.

It’s a stock we did well with over the years, but we decided to sell based on what we see as a deteriorating outlook for global travel because of rising consumer costs and more online communication that’s making business travel less necessary.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

May 6, 2026

Canadian and U.S. stock markets rallied on Wednesday as oil prices sank amid hopes that the United States and Iran are nearing a deal that would allow ships to deliver crude.

“Some commentary from Trump earlier this morning on prospects that the U.S. and Iran would reach a deal to end the war has really jolted markets … and sent equities higher and oil lower,” said Kevin Burkett, portfolio manager at Victoria-based Burkett Asset Management.

He said there has also been a corresponding effect on interest rates where “some of the inflationary impact of elevated oil prices has been repriced and longer rates which had moved considerably higher in recent weeks have fallen today.”  

The conflict in Iran has caused big trouble for the global economy because it has blocked oil tankers from using it to exit the Persian Gulf. A reopening could allow oil to flow freely again and remove upward pressure on inflation that’s driving prices up for all kinds of products worldwide.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 414.91 points at 33,981.82. 

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 612.34 points at 49,910.59. The S&P 500 index was up 105.90 points at 7,365.12, while the Nasdaq composite was up 512.82 points at 25,838.94. The S&P 500 climbed 1.5 per cent for its best day in nearly a month and hit another all-time high.

The June crude oil contract was down US$7.19 at US$95.08 per barrel.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, fell 7.8 per cent to US$101.27, down from more than US$115 early this week. It dropped as President Donald Trump said the Strait of Hormuz could be “open to all” if Iran accepts a reported agreement that the U.S. president did not detail.

Of course, hopes have risen several times already on Wall Street about a possible end to the war with Iran, only to get dashed each time. That could happen again, and oil prices pared some of their steepest losses from Wednesday morning.

Burkett said it is unclear what will happen going forward, but for the moment, markets are viewing the developments positively. 

Trump said Tuesday he was pausing his effort to forcefully reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial ships. And China’s foreign minister called for a comprehensive ceasefire following a meeting with Iran’s foreign minister. That could be influential because of how closely tied Iran is to China economically and politically.

In the meantime, big U.S. companies continue to turn in much stronger profits for the start of 2026 than analysts expected. That’s supporting the stock market despite all the uncertainties created by the war.

In the Canadian stock market, much of the gains came from the materials sector. The June gold contract was up US$125.80 at US$4,694.30 an ounce.

Burkett said that gold prices have moved more on U.S. inflation expectations compared with the intensity of the war in Iran. 

“As far as gold prices, they’re actually a beneficiary in my view of resolution of the conflict in Iran because gold is trading more around the inflationary impact of Trump’s interference with the U.S. Fed, and the oil prices elevated by foreign conflict really constrain Trump’s ability to cut interest rates,” he said. 

In the bond market, Treasury yields sank as falling oil prices took pressure off inflation. The yield on the 10-year Treasury dropped to 4.35 per cent from 4.43 per cent late Tuesday.

The Canadian dollar traded for 73.39 cents US compared with 73.44 cents US on Tuesday.

April 24, 2026

Canada’s main stock index ended the week just a touch in negative territory, while strength in tech helped buoy U.S. markets.

The S&P/TSX composite index finished down 8.82 points at 33,904.11, with energy one of the weaker sub-indexes.

Kevin Burkett, portfolio manager at Victoria-based Burkett Asset Management, said headlines around the war in the Middle East, and its impact on global crude oil prices, was likely behind the slight dip on the Canadian market on Friday.

“While the near-term contract has been very, very volatile on oil egress out of (the Strait of) Hormuz, the market continues to price in resolution on Iran — and I think fairly quickly,” Burkett said.

About 20 per cent of the world’s crude oil supply normally moves from the Persian Gulf and through the strait on its way to destinations around the world. A ceasefire is tenuously in place between Iran and the U.S. but tensions between the two are still keeping oil tankers from passing through the narrow waterway.

The June crude oil contract was down US$1.45 at US$94.40 per barrel, which is still more than 40 per cent higher than it was before the war began in late February. But contracts for delivery toward the latter part of the year are drifting closer to the US$70 mark, suggesting investors expect the oil supply shock to resolve before too long.

“That explains why producers’ shares haven’t reacted to the degree that I think a lot would have expected if they were just looking at daily headlines on crude oil fluctuations,” Burkett said.

Meanwhile in New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 79.61 points at 49,230.71. The S&P 500 index was up 56.68 points at 7,165.08, topping its prior all-time high, while the Nasdaq composite rose 398.09 points at 24,836.60.

The big Wall Street story on Friday was a blockbuster earnings report and rosy outlook from Intel Corp.

Intel shares soared 23.6 per cent for its best day since 1987 after reporting much stronger results for the first three months of the year than analysts expected. CEO Lip-Bu Tan said the next wave of artificial intelligence technology is increasing the need for Intel’s chips and products, and the company’s forecast for profit in the spring topped analysts’ estimates.

While big AI bellwether names like chipmaker Nvidia have been huge drivers on U.S. markets, there’s little on the TSX that offers investors the same kind of leverage to the tech boom, said Burkett.

“So much of the AI optimism has come into components, the physical infrastructure around AI … Most of the Canadian business is software and oftentimes the wrong type of software,” he said.

“I think Canada’s tech sector on days like today finds itself very out of step with global themes around AI.”

The Canadian dollar traded for 73.11 cents US compared with 73.06 cents US on Thursday.

The June gold contract was up US$16.90 at US$4,740.90 an ounce.

March 5, 2026

TORONTO – After two days of volatile swings, stock markets gained ground on Wednesday as the rise in oil prices eased. 

“Today has been certainly much calmer than Monday and Tuesday were, so that’s coming as some relief,” said Kevin Burkett, portfolio manager at Victoria-based Burkett Asset Management. 

“I think that’s not a reflection of stability as much as differences in opinions on whether we are entering a protracted Middle East conflict or something shorter term.”   

Uncertainty about the U.S.-Iran conflict has sent prices in financial markets careening up and down this week, with most taking their cues from what the price of oil is doing.

The April crude oil contract was up 10 cents US at US$74.66 per barrel.

“Looking at today’s move in crude, we’re in very much the mid-US$70s range, which is up almost US$10 week-over-week,” Burkett said. 

In financial markets, worries are centred on how long the war with Iran could last, how high inflation will go because of more expensive oil and how much corporate profits will sink because of it.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 157.92 points at 33,942.86.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 238.14 points at 48,739.41. The S&P 500 index was up 52.87 points at 6,869.50, while the Nasdaq composite was up 290.79 points at 22,807.48.

The U.S. stock market has a history of shaking off military conflicts in the Middle East relatively quickly, though that comes with the caveat that oil prices don’t jump too high.

Big tech stocks, meanwhile, were the strongest forces lifting the market. Amazon rose 3.9 per cent, and Nvidia added 1.7 per cent. Because they’re among the biggest stocks in the U.S. market in terms of total value, their movements carry more weight on the S&P 500.

Stocks also got a boost from signs of strength for the U.S. economy.

One report said growth for U.S. businesses in the real estate, finance and other services industries accelerated last month at the fastest pace since the summer of 2022. Encouragingly for inflation, it also said prices for such businesses are increasing at a slower rate, at least before the war with Iran began.

A second report suggested U.S. employers outside of the government picked up their hiring last month. That could be a hopeful signal for the more comprehensive report coming Friday from the U.S. government about the overall job market.

In the Canadian stock market, much of the gains were coming from the technology sector. That part of the market was led by Shopify Inc., which gained 6.1 per cent on the day.   

“The fate of Canadian tech is pretty much in the hands of Shopify. So on a good day for Canadian tech, it typically has to be a good day for Shopify,” he said.

The Canadian dollar traded for 73.19 cents US compared with 73.08 cents US on Tuesday.

The April gold contract was up US$11.00 at US$5,134.70 an ounce. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 4, 2026.

— With files from The Associated Press.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD, TSX: SHOP)

The Canadian Press