Dear Friends,
Tangents:
December 2, 1823: Monroe Doctrine declared.
December 2, 1851: Louis Napoleon Bonaparte stages a coup to retain power.
1859: John Brown executed.
December 2, 1969: The Boeing 747 jumbo jet debuted. Go to article.
December 2, 1982: The first successful artificial heart transplant is performed on Barney Clark in Utah, marking a breakthrough in cardiac surgery.
George Seuart, artist, b. 1859.
Maia Callas, singer, b. 1923
Britney Speares, singer, b. 1981.
Inside the world’s longest undersea road tunnel
Norway is building the world’s longest, deepest undersea road tunnel. See photos here.
| Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is erupting in ‘ice volcanoes’, new images suggest |
Scientists have observed cryovolcanoes erupting on comet 3I/ATLAS — giving us a new clue about what’s inside it. Read More.
| Once-in-a-century floods set to become annual events in northeastern US in the next 75 years, study finds |
Rising sea levels and storm surges from hurricanes will bring more frequent extreme floods to northeastern U.S. states, including Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. Read More.
| Russia accidentally destroys its only working launch pad as astronauts lift off to ISS |
The recent launch of a Soyuz rocket carrying three astronauts to the International Space Station has caused significant damage to Russia’s only launch pad capable of sending humans into space. Read More
| Your AI-generated image of a cat riding a banana exists because of children clawing through the dirt for toxic elements. Is it really worth it? |
Opinion | LLMs like Chat GPT come with major social costs — including child labor — that we can’t ignore. Do we really need progress that’s built on the suffering of others? Read More
PHOTOS OF THE DAY
Kyoto, Japan
‘Tourists enjoying the autumn foliage near the Katsura river in Arashiyama.
’Photograph: Hugo Anaya
Quebec, Canada
‘This picture was taken on a cold and snowy day of ski in Mont-Tremblant.’
Photograph: Philippe Rondeau
Gullfoss, Iceland
‘I booked a last-minute trip to Iceland to indulge in my passion for photography. I arrived at Gullfoss just after sunrise at around 10.30am, and aside from a 90-minute skirmish over to nearby Brúarfoss (also spectacular), I stayed there until 1.30am, before the drive back to Reykjavik. The forecast was actually low for aurora, so I was mainly there for star trails, with half a hope something might materialise, and lo and behold’
Photograph: Simon Tregidgo
Market Closes for December 2nd, 2025
| Market Index |
Close | Change |
| Dow Jones |
47474.46 | +185.13 |
| +0.39% | ||
| S&P 500 | 6829.37 | +16.74 |
| +0.25% | ||
| NASDAQ | 23413.67 | +137.75 |
| +0.59% | ||
| TSX | 31049.28 | -52.50 |
| -0.17% |
International Markets
| Market Index |
Close | Change |
| NIKKEI | 49712.44 | +408.99 |
| +0.83% | ||
| HANG SENG |
26095.05 | +61.79 |
| +0.24% | ||
| SENSEX | 85138.27 | -503.63 |
| -0.59% | ||
| FTSE 100* | 9701.80 | -0.73 |
| -0.01% |
Bonds
| Bonds | % Yield | Previous % Yield |
| CND. 10 Year Bond |
3.244 | 3.248 |
| CND. 30 Year Bond |
3.701 | 3.697 |
| U.S. 10 Year Bond |
4.0788 | 4.0865 |
| U.S. 30 Year Bond |
4.7397 | 4.7368 |
| BOC Close | Today | Previous |
| Canadian $ | 0.7158 | 0.7143 |
| US $ |
1.3969 | 1.3998 |
| Euro Rate 1 Euro= |
Inverse | |
| Canadian $ | 0.6155 | 1.6245 |
| US $ |
0.8599 | 1.1629 |
Commodities
| Gold | Close | Previous |
| London Gold Fix |
4238.85 | 4153.95 |
| Oil | ||
| WTI Crude Future | 58.64 | 59.32 |
Market Commentary:
|
Research means that you don’t know but are willing to find out. –Neil A. Armstrong, 1930-2012.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell for the second day, dropping 0.2%, or 52.5 to 31,049.28 in Toronto.
Barrick Mining Corp. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 3.1%.
Goeasy Ltd. had the largest drop, falling 5.9%.
Today, 148 of 212 shares fell, while 62 rose; 9 of 11 sectors were lower, led by materials stocks.
Insights
* This year, the index rose 26%, heading for the best year in at least 10 years
* This quarter, the index rose 3.4%
* The index advanced 21% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 13% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 1.2% below its 52-week high on Nov. 28, 2025 and 39.7% above its low on April 7, 2025
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.5% in the past 5 days and rose 2.6% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.6 on a trailing basis and 19.3 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.3% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$4.94t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 14.33% compared with 14.31% in the previous session and the average of 14.92% over the past month
Index Points
Materials | -100.0513| -1.8| 9/41
Energy | -57.8449| -1.2| 12/25
Consumer Staples | -13.9345| -1.3| 2/9
Industrials | -7.2132| -0.2| 14/15
Utilities | -6.5366| -0.6| 1/13
Consumer Discretionary| -5.3608| -0.5| 2/7
Real Estate | -2.1610| -0.5| 4/15
Communication Services| -1.7513| -0.3| 1/4
Health Care | -0.7646| -0.9| 1/2
Financials | 69.8484| 0.7| 11/13
Information Technology| 73.2618| 2.4| 5/4
Barrick Mining | -22.0700| -3.1| -28.7| 157.6
Enbridge | -17.5300| -1.7| -23.7| 10.3
Celestica | -15.6600| -4.4| -7.4| 220.9
RBC | 20.8400| 1.0| 2.1| 24.7
Scotiabank | 23.3700| 2.8| 82.0| 27.9
Shopify | 87.4800| 4.9| -22.4| 43.4
MT Newswires:
The Toronto Stock Exchange was down for a second-straight session Tuesday on lower commodity prices and some more profit taking after it set four record closes last week, even as National Bank still sees additional upside for the Canadian equity market, with potential benefits stemming from the energy sector as it’s "no longer treated as a stranded asset".
The resources-heavy index closed down 52.50 points, or near 0.2%, at 31,049.28, adding to the 280 points lost Monday, with most sectors lower.
Energy was the biggest decline, down 1.6%, and Health Care was down 1.4%.
The Battery Metals Index was up 1.3%.
Among individual stocks, Scotiabank (BNS.TO, BNS) kicked off the fiscal fourth-quarter earnings season for Canada’s big banks today, reporting adjusted earnings beat. Its shares closed up 2.8%.
The banks continue to report tomorrow through both Royal Bank (RY.TO, RY) and National Bank (NA.TO).
For RBC, the consensus forecast at FactSet is for EPS of $3.55 compared to $3.07 a year earlier.
Consensus forecast is for revenue of $16,798.6 million, versus $15,074 million in the prior corresponding period.
For National Bank, the consensus forecast is for EPS of $2.62 compared to $2.58 a year earlier, and revenues of $3,452.9 million, versus $2,989 million in the prior corresponding period.
Bigger picture, National Bank published its Monthly Equity Monitor for December 2025 in which it noted the S&P/TSX continued its ascent in November and now boasts a total return of 30% year to date.
With just one month remaining, National Bank noted the Canadian benchmark is within striking distance of the record annual total return set in 2009.
According to National Bank, the Nov.4 federal budget finally provided a "coherent framework" to address Canada’s "chronic" under investment problem, streamlining permitting, reducing tax complexity, and strengthening capital formation, while signaling a more pragmatic stance toward conventional energy within the national industrial strategy.
National said this policy shift crystallized on Nov.27 with the signing of a landmark Memorandum of Understanding between Ottawa and Alberta.
"The fact that oil & gas sector is no longer treated as a stranded asset could meaningfully reignite investor interest in the S&P/TSX energy complex and, over time, foster a renewed wave of foreign direct investment into Canada," it added.
Of note, though, First Nations chiefs today voted unanimously for the federal government to uphold a northern B.C. coast tanker bank, which could slow or stop any progress in the energy sector.
Prime Minister Mark Carney is currently addressing First Nations’ Chiefs at an Assembly, and he has said his government is committed to working directly with them on potential projects.
National Bank is maintaining its asset allocation unchanged this month, with an underweight stance in equities, particularly in the United States.
National said: "Investor expectations are very high, as evidenced by valuations reaching their highest levels in several years, based on expected strong earnings growth.
In this context, exceeding those expectations will be difficult, and because we believe anticipated rate cuts may not materialize amid persistent inflation, the risk of equity market volatility is elevated."
National added: "Meanwhile, the S&P/TSX has continued to deliver solid performance since our last publication.
While valuations have moved above their long-term averages, we still see additional upside.
Investors are increasingly acknowledging that the November 4 federal budget follows through on Ottawa’s pro-business commitments.
Further progress on Canada-U.S. trade negotiations, an outcome we consider likely in the months ahead, should provide another catalyst for domestic equities."
Of commodities, gold prices weakened for the first time in nine sessions Tuesday as the metal continues to run under its Oct. 20 record high, despite the prospect for an interest-rate cut from the Federal Reserve next week.
Gold for February delivery was down $59.80 to US$4,215.00 per ounce.
Also, West Texas Intermediate closed lower as an over supplied market offsets geopolitical tension.
WTI crude oil for January delivery closed down US$0.68 to settle at US$58.64 per barrel, while February Brent oil was last seen down US$0.69 to US$62.48.
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Wall Street staged a cautious rebound, with the S&P 500 stuck in a tight trading range despite a rally in cryptocurrencies that followed a rough start to December.
Bonds and the dollar stabilized.
While the US equity benchmark rose for the sixth time in seven sessions, most of its firms dropped.
Apple Inc. led gains in mega caps, but Tesla Inc. fell as Michael Burry called the shares “ridiculously overvalued.”
Boeing Co. surged as it expects to generate cash again in 2026.
The stock market still requires a bit more broadening out before expecting an immediate push back to fresh highs, according to Mark Newton at Fundstrat Global Advisors.
“I have a constructive view for December but still believe it is likely to show a ‘back and forth’ type pattern over the next couple of weeks before turning higher to new highs,” he said.
At Piper Sandler, Craig Johnson says more time and technical evidence are needed for a “buy” signal to occur.
Bitcoin topped $90,000, recovering from a bruising selloff that caught the market off guard and erased nearly $1 billion in fresh leveraged bets.
The rebound offered a brief respite in a months-long rout, but sentiment is still fragile.
As traders awaited the last few economic reports before next week’s Federal Reserve decision, President Donald Trump said he plans to announce his selection to lead the central bank in early 2026.
The S&P 500 rose to around 6,830.
The Nasdaq 100 rose almost 1%.
The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.09%.
The dollar wavered.
Anyone looking to bet against US stocks this month would be wise to consider the strength of the American economy and ongoing enthusiasm around artificial intelligence.
That’s the view at 22V Research, where strategists say an increase in consumer spending and investments in AI are likely to support productivity, allowing firms to deliver the profits needed to power stocks higher.
“Being short here requires high confidence in a much weaker economic backdrop or a significant change in the outlook for AI capex,” according to strategists led by Dennis Debusschere.
While the S&P 500 recently managed to notch its longest monthly winning streak since 2021, the rally from April’s bottom has faced investor concerns around artificial-intelligence valuations and doubts around Fed rate cuts.
After cutting interest rates by more than a percentage point, Fed officials are now wondering where to stop – and finding there’s more disagreement than ever.
In the past year or so, prescriptions for where rates should end up have diverged by the most since at least 2012, when US central bankers started publishing their estimates.
That’s feeding into an unusually public split over whether to deliver another cut next week, and what comes after that.
“Nothing is going to change our view that the Fed eases next week, but it is looking more like a hawkish cut,” said Andrew Brenner at NatAlliance Securities.
“We can see at least three dissents next week.”
Strategists at JPMorgan Chase & Co. say it’s unlikely that Treasuries will replicate this year’s strong performance in 2026 because markets have priced in too many rate cuts.
Money markets show traders are pricing in nearly four quarter-point Fed reductions over the next year, including one on Dec. 10.
“If the Fed doesn’t deliver as many cuts, there’s some normalization” in Treasury yields, said Jay Barry, JPMorgan’s head of global rates strategy, at a media briefing.
The US economy “bends but doesn’t break,” he added.
Corporate Highlights:
* Michael Burry called Tesla Inc. shares “ridiculously overvalued” and said shareholder dilution is set to continue after the proposed $1 trillion pay package for co-founder Elon Musk, according to a Substack post.
* Amazon.com Inc.’s cloud unit raced to get the latest version of its artificial intelligence chip to market, renewing efforts to sell hardware capable of rivaling products from Nvidia Corp. and Google.
* Cloud-computing provider Vultr is building a 50-megawatt cluster of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. artificial intelligence processors at a data center in Ohio, a move aimed at offering AI infrastructure at a lower cost.
* Boeing Co. expects to generate cash again in 2026, a significant reversal in the plane maker’s finances as it prepares to boost monthly production rates of its passenger aircraft.
* Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. fielded a second round of bids, including a mostly cash offer from Netflix Inc., in an auction that could wrap up in the coming days or weeks, according to people familiar with the discussions.
* Comcast Corp. is looking to merge its NBCUniversal division with Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., according to people familiar with the company’s plans.
* Strategy Inc.’s new $1.4 billion reserve gives the Bitcoin accumulator flexibility to meet short-term obligations such as its dividend and interest payments during times of market turbulence, according to Chief Executive Officer Phong Le.
* Crypto exchange Kraken is acquiring a tokenized assets platform in a vote of confidence for stock trading tied to blockchains.
* Cloudflare Inc. climbed after Barclays launched coverage on the infrastructure software company with an overweight rating and a $235 price target.
* MongoDB Inc., a database software company, reported stronger- than-expected results. It also raised its full-year forecast.
* Six Flags Entertainment Corp. rallied after Truist Securities upgraded the theme park operator’s stock to buy from hold.
* Analog chipmaker SiTime Corp., which specializes in chips that keep circuits in sync inside data centers, is in talks to acquire Renesas Electronics Corp.’s timing unit, according to people familiar with the matter.
* Carlyle Group Inc. sold a troubled loan it provided to iRobot Corp. less than three years ago as the maker of Roomba vacuum cleaners is trying to stave off a potential bankruptcy filing.
* Bank of Nova Scotia topped estimates on better-than-expected results at its capital-markets unit while forecasting faster growth next year in its core Canadian banking division.
* Laurentian Bank of Canada is set to become the latest small Canadian bank to exit the market after reaching an agreement to sell itself to Fairstone Bank for C$1.9 billion ($1.4 billion) while hiving off its retail banking unit to focus on commercial lending.
* Novo Nordisk A/S is planning a large study of its next generation obesity shot CagriSema in children, a sign the drugmaker is pressing forward with the compound despite disappointing results in other trials.
* BMW AG is pressing the European Union to formally adopt a trade deal with the US that would give the German carmaker respite from ongoing tariff pressure.
* TotalEnergies SE has emerged as the leading bidder to buy a stake in Galp Energia SGPS SA’s major oil discovery offshore Namibia, according to people familiar with the matter.
* Vale SA and Glencore Plc are considering a joint copper project in Canada as the two companies look to increase their exposure to a metal projected to be in short supply as the world electrifies.
* Samsung Electronics Co. unveiled its first so-called trifold smartphone, flaunting its engineering prowess in foldable devices even as the broader category has yet to catch on with mainstream consumers.
* Taiwanese prosecutors charged Tokyo Electron Ltd. for failing to prevent staff from allegedly stealing Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. trade secrets, escalating a dispute involving two Asian linchpins of a chip industry increasingly vital to national and economic security.
What Bloomberg Strategists say…
“A combination of resilient tech stocks and fragile undercurrents is pinning the S&P 500 within recent ranges, as investors lean on mega-cap growth while bracing for a likely hawkish Fed cut next week.”
—Michael Ball, Macro Strategist, Markets Live.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.2% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.8%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4%
* The MSCI World Index rose 0.2%
* Bloomberg Magnificent 7 Total Return Index rose 0.5%
* The Russell 2000 Index fell 0.2%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
* The euro rose 0.1% to $1.1624
* The British pound was little changed at $1.3211
* The Japanese yen fell 0.2% to 155.84 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 5.3% to $91,039.2
* Ether rose 6.8% to $2,980.9
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.09%
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 2.75%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined one basis point to 4.47%
* The yield on 2-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 3.51%
* The yield on 30-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.75%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.1% to $58.64 a barrel
* Spot gold fell 0.5% to $4,210.31 an ounce
Have a lovely evening.
Be magnificent!
As ever,
Carolann
The most difficult thing is the decision to act; the rest is merely tenacity. -Amelia Earhart, 1897-1939.
Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Senior Investment Advisor
Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7
Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801 (Text Only)
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828