Oil prices wavered on uncertainty over Middle East ceasefire negotiations
Daniel Johnson, The Canadian Press
Canada’s main stock index fell more than 550 points on Tuesday, while U.S. markets also lost ground amid uncertainty about U.S.-Iran ceasefire talks.
“North American equity markets started out on solid footing today, but then … retreated as the day progressed. A key overhang was the pending deadline for Middle East ceasefire negotiations,” said Kathrin Forrest, equity investment director at Capital Group.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance called off a trip to Pakistan, where he was expected to lead U.S. negotiators in talks with Iran to extend the ceasefire. Later in the day, U.S. President Donald Trump said the United States is extending its ceasefire with Iran at Pakistan’s request as he waits for a unified proposal from the Islamic Republic.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 551.73 points at 33,808.30.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 293.18 points at 49,149.38. The S&P 500 index was down 45.13 points at 7,064.01, while the Nasdaq composite was down 144.43 points at 24,259.96.
Oil prices also wavered, and the price for a barrel of Brent crude went from less than US$95 to roughly US$100 during the day. It settled at US$98.48, up 3.1%.
The June crude oil contract was up US$2.25 at US$89.67 per barrel.
“Oil reverting higher, that puts upward pressure on inflation expectations, which puts upward pressure on yields. It is generally supportive of the U.S. dollar, and it’s not necessarily great for precious metals,” Forrest said.
Much of the tension in financial markets has focused on what will happen to the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway off Iran’s coast that oil tankers use to exit the Persian Gulf. A long-term closure would keep crude oil pent up in the gulf and away from customers worldwide.
Forrest said that earnings from U.S. companies have overall been constructive recently.
Helping to limit Wall Street’s losses were UnitedHealth Group and other big companies that reported bigger profits for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
UnitedHealth jumped 7% after also raising its forecast for profit over the full year of 2026.
Amazon added 0.7% after Anthropic said it signed a new agreement and is committing more than US$100 billion over the next 10 years to AWS technologies to train and run its Claude chatbot.
But they were all nevertheless overshadowed by a 2.5% drop for Apple, which was the day’s heaviest weight on the S&P 500. It fell in its first trading after Tim Cook said he’ll step down as CEO on Sept. 1 and become the iPhone maker’s executive chairman.
Cook is handing control over to John Ternus, a company veteran who rose through Apple’s hardware engineering ranks.
On the TSX, the basic materials sector led to the downside. Forrest said declines in the price of precious metals were weighing on the sector after having a relatively strong run earlier in the year.
The June gold contract was down US$109.20 at US$4,719.60 an ounce.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.24 cents US compared with 73.21 cents US on Monday.
— With files from The Associated Press