Toronto's benchmark closed lower on basic materials weakness while New York's three main indexes edged higher — here is what moved, by how much, and what sits behind the split.
The S&P/TSX composite index finished Thursday in negative territory, closing down 81.11 points at 35,154.76 as losses in the basic materials sector outweighed the rest of the Toronto market. South of the border the direction was the opposite, with the Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite all ending the session modestly higher.
The move was small in percentage terms — roughly a quarter of one per cent off the previous close — but it put Toronto on the wrong side of an otherwise green North American tape. For Canadian investors, the session was less about the size of the decline than about where it came from.
Basic Materials Did the Damage in Toronto
The market wrap identified a single drag on the index: the basic materials sector. That grouping covers Canada’s mining and metals names, fertilizer and chemical producers, and the forest products companies that still carry meaningful weight on the Toronto exchange.
No individual company was singled out as the source of the weakness, and the report did not break out how far the sector itself fell. What is clear is that the pullback was concentrated enough in materials to tip a 35,000-point benchmark into the red on a day when the broader North American mood was positive.
That concentration is a recurring feature of the Canadian market. The TSX composite leans heavily on resources and financials, so a bad afternoon in one of those blocks can override gains everywhere else — a dynamic that works in reverse too, as it did when the index climbed 348 points to snap a four-day slide earlier in the same stretch of trading.
Where the Four Benchmarks Closed
Here are the closing levels reported for the session, with the point moves as published.
| Index | Close | Point change | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| S&P/TSX composite | 35,154.76 | -81.11 | Lower |
| Dow Jones industrial average | 50,926.56 | +20.51 | Higher |
| S&P 500 | 7,666.45 | +14.91 | Higher |
| Nasdaq composite | 26,871.60 | +10.53 | Higher |
The U.S. gains were narrow. The Dow’s advance of just over 20 points on a base above 50,900 and the Nasdaq’s 10.53-point rise on a base near 26,870 each work out to well under a tenth of a per cent. The S&P 500’s 14.91-point gain was the firmest of the three in relative terms, at roughly 0.2 per cent.
In other words, this was not a day of conviction buying in New York. It was a day when U.S. benchmarks drifted slightly higher and Toronto drifted slightly lower, with a sector story explaining the difference.
The Loonie Eased to 70.21 Cents US
The Canadian dollar traded at 70.21 cents US, down from 70.48 cents US at the previous reported comparison point, which the wrap gives as Tuesday. That is a decline of about a quarter of a cent in a currency already sitting in the low 70-cent range.
A softer loonie is a mixed signal for Canadian markets. It improves the translated revenue of exporters that sell in U.S. dollars, which is a large slice of the TSX, but it raises the cost of imported goods and equipment and feeds into the inflation picture the central bank is watching.
That currency channel has drawn more scrutiny than usual, given how closely the rate debate has been running alongside commentary tying firmer oil prices to inflation near three per cent.
Crude Jumped US$2.45 While Gold Added US$15.60
Commodities moved more decisively than equities. The November crude oil contract rose US$2.45 to settle at US$92.87 per barrel — a gain of roughly 2.7 per cent on the day and the largest single move in any of the figures reported.
The December gold contract added US$15.60 to close at US$4,202.30 an ounce, an advance of about 0.4 per cent.
- Crude oil (November contract): US$92.87 per barrel, up US$2.45.
- Gold (December contract): US$4,202.30 an ounce, up US$15.60.
- Canadian dollar: 70.21 cents US, down from 70.48 cents US.
The combination is worth pausing on. Both headline commodities finished higher, yet the Canadian index most exposed to commodity producers still closed down. That tells readers the materials weakness was not a simple read-through from falling metal or energy prices on the day — the underlying cause was not specified in the report.
Why a Commodity-Up, Materials-Down Session Is Not a Contradiction
The following is general market context rather than an explanation attributed to the session itself. Mining and metals equities do not track spot commodity prices one-for-one. Producer share prices also respond to production guidance, cost inflation, currency effects, mine-specific operational news, index rebalancing, and profit-taking after a strong run.
Gold miners in particular can lag bullion when investors decide the equities have already priced in a higher metal price, or when cost pressures are expected to absorb part of the gain. Likewise, a single large-cap fertilizer, chemical or forest products name can move the sector average without any change in the metals complex at all.
Because the published wrap does not attribute the materials decline to a specific driver, readers should treat any single explanation as unconfirmed. The verified facts are the closing levels, the point moves, the currency level and the two commodity settlements listed above.
What the Toronto-New York Split Means for Canadian Portfolios
Sessions like this one illustrate why a Canadian-only equity allocation behaves differently from a North American one. The TSX composite’s heavy weighting toward resources and financial services means its daily path can diverge from U.S. benchmarks even when the macro news flow is shared.
On a day when the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all closed up, a Canadian investor holding a broad TSX index product would still have finished slightly underwater. Over a single session that is noise. Repeated over quarters, sector composition is one of the main reasons Canadian and U.S. index returns separate.
It also underlines the role of the currency. For Canadians holding unhedged U.S. assets, a loonie slipping from 70.48 to 70.21 cents US adds a small tailwind to U.S. returns measured in Canadian dollars, partially offsetting a weak domestic session.
The Rate and Inflation Backdrop Framing These Sessions
Canadian equity moves this autumn have been reported against an unusually active monetary policy debate. Crude trading near US$93 a barrel is the kind of level that feeds directly into headline inflation through fuel and transport costs, which is why energy prices have featured so prominently in the commentary around the Bank of Canada’s next move.
That backdrop is why market watchers have been tracking the growing number of rate hike calls ahead of the October 28 decision. Higher policy rates typically pressure rate-sensitive equities and support the currency, which adds another variable to how the TSX composite trades from here.
Nothing in Thursday’s market wrap addressed monetary policy directly. The index level, the sector attribution and the commodity settlements are the reported facts; the rate context is background for readers following the broader story.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much did the S&P/TSX composite fall in percentage terms?
The 81.11-point decline to 35,154.76 works out to roughly 0.23 per cent, based on the implied previous close of about 35,235.87.
Which sector was blamed for the TSX decline?
The basic materials sector was identified as the drag on the index. No individual companies or a specific cause within the sector were named in the report.
Why is the Canadian dollar compared with Tuesday rather than the previous day?
The published wrap gives Tuesday’s level of 70.48 cents US as the comparison point for Thursday’s 70.21 cents US. The reason for that comparison date was not specified.
Did U.S. markets have a strong day?
All three main U.S. benchmarks closed higher, but the moves were small — the Dow and Nasdaq each gained well under a tenth of a per cent, and the S&P 500 added about 0.2 per cent.
Market levels reflect the close reported for October 1, 2026, and change continuously. This article is published for information only and is not investment advice.
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