TSX closes higher, U.S. stock markets climb on tech earnings

The S&P/TSX composite index jumped while U.S. markets also ended higher after a slew of earnings from major U.S. tech companies boosted investor sentiment.

All the TSX subsectors were up on Thursday.

Markets were reacting to better-than-expected earnings from some of the major U.S. tech companies on Thursday. Alphabet led the way and rallied 10% after the owner of Google reported profit for the latest quarter that almost doubled analysts’ expectations. Investments in artificial intelligence “are lighting up every part of the business,” Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said. 

It’s the latest company to deliver fatter profits for the start of 2026 than analysts expected, even with very high oil prices and uncertainty about the economy.

“That’s leading to a lot of expectations for GDP growth and earnings down the road,” said Ashish Utarid, assistant vice-president of investment strategy at IG Wealth Management.

He said the major U.S. tech companies — Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet and Meta — have doubled down on their AI spending, and are on track to spend US$700 billion this year.

“That tells you how serious this cycle is. The demand is there, capacity is tight and every player is trying to stay ahead,” he said.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 645.94 points at 33,964.33.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 790.33 points at 49,652.14. The S&P 500 index was up 73.06 points at 7,209.01, while the Nasdaq composite was up 219.07 points at 24,892.31.

Utarid said investors are still digesting decisions from the central banks in Canada and the U.S. to hold their benchmark rates steady, while keeping a close watch on developments in the Middle East.

That “signals to a lot of investors that right now growth is on track,” he said.

The conflict in Iran has entered its third month with no resolution in sight. Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers, keeping them pent up in the Persian Gulf and away from customers worldwide, while a U.S. Navy blockade is preventing Iran from selling its own oil.

The June crude oil contract was down US$1.81 at US$105.07 per barrel.

In the most actively traded part of the market for Brent crude, for delivery in July, the price got as high as US$114.70 per barrel overnight. It then fell back toward US$107 before settling at US$110.40, nearly unchanged from the day before.

“We start to see demand destruction at the US$110 to US$120 range,” Utarid said. 

“This is kind of the high watermark for oil prices,” he said. “Anything ahead of this would mean higher inflation and potentially slower growth down the road.”

The June gold contract was up US$68.10 at US$4,629.60 an ounce.

The Canadian dollar traded for 73.40 cents US compared with 73.09 cents US on Wednesday.

— with files from The Associated Press