S&P/TSX composite ends lower in shortened trading day, U.S. stock markets rise

The Bay Street Financial District is shown with the Canadian flag in Toronto on Friday, Aug. 5, 2022.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette Photo by Nathan Denette /THE CANADIAN PRESS

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TORONTO — Stock markets in Canada and the U.S. moved in opposite directions in the shortened trading day on Christmas Eve amid lighter volumes.

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While Canada’s benchmark index finished in negative territory, weighed down by losses in the basic materials sector, Wall Street closed higher and reached more records Wednesday. Roughly 1.8 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, roughly a third of the average trading day.

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“I just think the path of least resistance is to the upside,” said Allan Small, senior investment adviser at iA Private Wealth.

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Prior to this week, he said stocks had been “selling off a little bit” amid concerns about AI and data centre spending.

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“But for whatever reason, as we’ve gotten closer to the holidays, people have turned the page and now are looking forward to maybe another big year,” he said.

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“Maybe not as large of a gain as we’ve seen these past three years. But I think we can still see gains of around 10 per cent give or take a little on the exchanges, on the indices for 2026.”

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Investors also sifted through the latest figures on the U.S. labour market.

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U.S. applications for jobless claims for the week ending Dec. 20 fell by 10,000 to 214,000 from the previous week’s 224,000, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.

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“Businesses are not really firing people right now. They’re just not hiring. So it’s more of a hiring freeze versus a firing,” Small said.

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“Those that are retiring, for example, instead of hiring new people to replace them, they’re just getting their workers to do more. Maybe using artificial intelligence to help them do more.”

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In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 288.75 points at 48,731.16. The S&P 500 index was up 22.26 points at 6,932.05, while the Nasdaq composite was up 51.46 points at 23,613.31. The S&P 500 surpassed the record set earlier in December.

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The S&P/TSX composite index was down 58.97 points at 31,999.76.

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Losses in the basic materials sector weighed on the overall index on Wednesday, despite lifting the TSX for much of the year. The February gold contract was down US$2.90 at US$4,502.80 an ounce.

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“Gold has been the major factor for the TSX running a lot higher this year, up something like 70 per cent or even more now. Silver has had a fantastic year … So materials really led the way, followed by Canadian banks,” Small said.

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The Canadian dollar traded for 73.13 cents US, compared with 72.97 cents US on Tuesday.

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The February crude oil contract was down three cents US at US$58.35 per barrel.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 24, 2025.

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— With files from The Associated Press.

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

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