TORONTO — Canada's main stock index lost steam through the trading day on Friday to close lower, while U.S. stock markets were mixed as the dizzying swings seen in recent months seemed to give way to a more relaxed tempo — at least for now.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 8.43 points at 26,497.57.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 35.16 points at 42,206.82. The S&P 500 index was down 13.03 points at 5,967.84, while the Nasdaq composite was down 98.86 points at 19,447.41.
U.S. Markets were closed for the Juneteenth holiday on Thursday, with only one trading day before exchanges shut again over the weekend.
And little else was driving the agenda on the cusp of summer, said John Zechner, chairman and lead equity manager at J. Zechner Associates.
"There wasn't much on the table. There wasn't really any economic data — certainly no earnings, no corporate news," he said.
The Israel-Iran conflict rattled oil markets when the assaults began earlier this month over fears of disruptions to global crude shipments. But with U.S. President Donald Trump saying he'll decide within two weeks whether to get his country involved, there's little for markets to react to in the meantime.
Markets seem to have mellowed without the barrage of almost daily tariff pronouncements from the White House.
"I don't know that it's just not the calm before the storm," said Zechner.
"Nothing has really been settled. There have been no trade agreements put in place and that July 9 date is sort of hanging in front of everybody."
That's the day a pause on sweeping U.S. "reciprocal" tariffs is set to end. Also unsettled is Trump's budget bill now before the Senate.
"You've got a bunch of things still up in the air," said Zechner.
"I don't think anything gets necessarily decided next week. It will be another quiet one going into quarter-end and people probably shut down the books a little bit."
One event on investors' radar next week will be Statistics Canada's latest inflation numbers for May, set for Tuesday.
Financial data shows the consensus among economists is that inflation ticked up to 1.8 per cent year-over-year last month.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Federal Reserve opted to keep interest rates stable, despite some worsening economic indicators.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.84 cents US compared with 72.87 cents US on Thursday.
The August crude oil contract was up 34 cents US at US$73.84 per barrel and the July natural gas contract was down 14 cents US at US$3.85 per mmBTU.
The August gold contract was down US$22.40 at US$3,385.70 an ounce and the July copper contract was down two cents US at US$4.83 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 20, 2025.
Companies in this story: (TSX: GSPTSE, TSX: CADUSD)
The Canadian Press
