Dear Friends,
Tangents: Happy Friday Eve.
January 8, 1851: Earth’s potation proved.
January 8, 1987: The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 2,000 for the first time, ending the day at 2,002.25. Go to article
Elvis Presley, b. 1935.
Stephen Hawking , physicist, b.1942.
David Bowie, musician, b. 1947.
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PHOTOS OF THE DAY
Tokyo, Japan
People gather around incense smoke at the Senso-ji temple in the Asakusa district
Photograph: Yuichi Yamazaki/AFP/Getty Images
Salisbury, UK
Chris Woods, a director of the National Conservation Service, undertakes the annual condition check of the 1215 Magna Carta at Salisbury Cathedral. One of the world’s most important documents, the Magna Carta is an enduring symbol of social justice and freedom. It is on display in the cathedral’s Chapter House
Photograph: Finnbarr Webster/Alamy Live News
Sydney, Australia
People exercise on Bondi Beach during a heatwave
Photograph: George Chan/Getty Images
Market Closes for January 8th, 2026
| Market Index |
Close | Change |
| Dow Jones |
49266.11 | +270.03 |
| +0.55% | ||
| S&P 500 | 6921.46 | +0.53 |
| +0.01% | ||
| NASDAQ | 23480.02 | -104.26 |
| -0.44% | ||
| TSX | 32378.64 | +243.15 |
| +0.76% |
International Markets
| Market Index |
Close | Change |
| NIKKEI | 51256.33 | +139.07 |
| +0.27% | ||
| HANG SENG |
26149.31 | -309.64 |
| -1.17% | ||
| SENSEX | 84180.96 | -780.18 |
| -0.92% | ||
| FTSE 100* | 10044.69 | -3.52 |
| -0.04% |
Bonds
| Bonds | % Yield | Previous % Yield |
| CND. 10 Year Bond |
3.400 | 3.396 |
| CND. 30 Year Bond |
3.842 | 3.847 |
| U.S. 10 Year Bond |
4.1672 | 4.1515 |
| U.S. 30 Year Bond |
4.8365 | 4.8324 |
| BOC Close | Today | Previous |
| Canadian $ | 0.7211 | 0.7214 |
| US $ |
1.3867 | 1.3859 |
| Euro Rate 1 Euro= |
Inverse | |
| Canadian $ | 0.6186 | 1.6164 |
| US $ |
0.8579 | 1.1655 |
Commodities
| Gold | Close | Previous |
| London Gold Fix |
4438.00 | 4490.35 |
| Oil | ||
| WTI Crude Future | 57.76 | 55.99 |
Market Commentary
On this day in 1829, Wall Street had one of its quietest days ever. Not a single share of stock changed hands.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.8% at 32,378.64 in Toronto.
The move follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.8%.
Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 2.4%.
Cargojet Inc. had the largest increase, rising 7.5%.
Today, 149 of 218 shares rose, while 68 fell; 10 of 11 sectors were higher, led by energy stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index rose 1.6%, heading for the biggest advance since the week ended Nov. 28
* The index advanced 29% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 18% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.2% below its 52-week high on Jan. 6, 2026 and 45.7% above its low on April 7, 2025
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 2.1% in the past 5 days and rose 3.9% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.9 on a trailing basis and 20.3 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$5.11t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 9.60% compared with 9.74% in the previous session and the average of 12.27% over the past month
Index Points
Energy | 56.1596| 1.2| 31/6
Materials | 49.5342| 0.8| 30/26
Financials | 45.1709| 0.4| 15/9
Industrials | 44.5746| 1.3| 20/9
Information Technology | 15.4573| 0.5| 7/3
Consumer Staples | 11.2978| 1.1| 9/1
Consumer Discretionary | 9.9296| 0.9| 7/2
Communication Services | 5.7271| 0.9| 3/2
Real Estate | 4.7955| 1.0| 18/1
Health Care | 0.7804| 0.9| 3/1
Utilities | -0.2747| 0.0| 6/8
Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd | 21.2800| 2.4| 5.5| 11.0
Shopify | 19.8200| 1.0| -6.2| 5.6
Canadian Natural Resources | 19.3600| 3.1| 1.0| -6.0
National Bank of Canada | -2.6500| -0.6| 29.6| -0.3
Power of Canada | -5.3180| -1.9| 2.2| -0.7
Celestica | -19.1400| -5.6| 19.8| -1.5
MT Newswires:
The Toronto Stock Exchange on Thursday recovered nearly all of its day-prior loss, when it posted its first drop of 2026, with the resources-heavy index buoyed by improved commodity prices, and as BMO Capital Markets outlined seven predictions for Canadian Pipeline & Midstream companies in 2026.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 243.15 points, or 0.75%, to 32,378.64, having recovered most of the near 270 points lost Wednesday and leaving the index within 50 points of the record finish of 32,407.02 set on Tuesday.
Most sectors higher, led by Energy up 1.9% and Industrials up 1.3%.
Cappin gains, the Battery Metals Index was down 2.25% and Base Metals down near 1%.
Of commodities, gold prices were higher later afternoon Thursday even as the dollar rose after the United States reported its trade deficit narrowed to the lowest in 16 years in October.
Gold for February delivery was last seen up US$25.29 to US$4.487.70 per ounce, remaining under the Dec. 26 record high ofUS$4,552.70, but still up 65% over the past 12 months.
The price of the precious metal has been supported by rising geopolitical risk and physical demand from central banks and exchange-traded products (ETPs).
Also, West Texas Intermediate crude oil rebounded from two losing sessions on Thursday, rising on geopolitical risk despite U.S. plans to sell up to 50-million barrels of Venezuelan oil to American refiners, lower Canadian prices, and a rising U.S. glut of gasoline and distillates.
WTI crude oil for February delivery closed up $1.77 to settle at US$57.76 per barrel, while March Brent oil was last seen up $1.99 to US$61.95.
In terms of Energy Infrastructure, BMO Capital Markets today published ‘Cdn. Pipeline & Midstream: Seven Predictions for 2026’.
First, in looking at potential upside for marketing, BMO believes there could be upside to Midstream marketing segments, though from tempered expectations with recent 2026 guidance outlooks.
BMO flagged Gibson Energy’s (GEI.TO) Crude Marketing on potentially wider WCS differentials following the Venezuela situation.
Also, BMO said, while Canadian frac spread forwards are pointing to near 25% compression, the bank suspects AECO gas feedstock could once again surprise to the downside; It noted Pembina Pipeline (PPL.TO) and Keyera (KEY.TO) are "most exposed to this dynamic".
Second, according to BMO the Canadian Government’s focus on diversifying energy exports to new markets will continue to place investor focus on:
1. A proposed new one million bbl/d oil pipeline to the West Coast, though the bank struggles to see a scenario where Enbridge (ENB.TO) or South Bow (SOBO.TO) would invest unless adequate return protection.
2. next wave of LNG export projects, including LNG Canada Phase 2 and the Ksi Lisims LNG project, both of which have been designated as "priority projects”.
3. LPG, with AltaGas (ALA.TO) having recently sanctioned REEF Optimization Phase One (+25k bbl/d) and signaled a potential Phase Two (+60k).
Third, BMO noted growth backlogs keep getting bigger.
It said a common investor criticism of the sector a few years ago was that growth projects were waning.
Zoom forward to today, the sector has assembled near $63 billion of secured growth backlogs.
BMO estimates this will increase up to 20% by end of year.
4. in already looking to 2030, not only does BMO expect the market to differentiate between company growth profiles but said the duration of growth will play a large role as well. BMO noted the market responded favorably when
Gibson Energy recently provided a through end of decade guide, and the bank believes by end of year Pembina (currently through 2026) and TC Energy(TRP.TO), through 2028, will too.
BMO expects Enbridge (through 2026) and Keyera (through 2027) to roll through at least 2028 but will likely debate a longer horizon.
5. BMO sees "good times again for gas storage".
It noted last year saw a wave of Western Cdn. gas storage expansions and uptrend in storage rates.
BMO said this trend should persist in 2026, with AltaGas today announcing a second phase expansion at Dimsdale, only three months after first Phase.
6. relates to Alberta data centers and natural gas.
BMO noted much has been discussed on up to 10bcf/d of natural gas that could be required to help power new U.S. DCs through end of 2030.
BMO believes the narrative will increasingly include Alberta, where a series of DC announcements are expected in coming months.
Pembina noted 320mmcf/d of natural gas would be required to feed its near 1.8GW Greenlight project and there are currently near 20GW proposals in queue.
7. BMO now prefers pipelines over utilities within Canadian Energy Infrastructure.
Its pipeline recommendations are Keyera (OP, Outperform), followed by TRP (Outperform), Rockpoint Gas Storage (RGSI.TO) (OP), and Pembina (also OP). The bank remains Market Perform on Enbridge, Gibson, and South Bow.
US
By Cristin Flanagan and Lu Wang
(Bloomberg) — Strong crosscurrents were buffeting US stocks beneath a placid surface Thursday, as last year’s technology winners sold off and investors dove into up energy producers, consumer companies and small caps.
An advance in global bonds stalled.
The Nasdaq 100 slid 0.6%, ending a three-day advance as tech behemoths Nvidia Corp. and Apple Inc. slumped.
Defense shares jumped on President Donald Trump’s plan to ramp up military spending while a gauge of small-cap stocks surged to a record as investors continued to rotate out of tech.
The first few sessions of 2026 have seen a notable broadening of the stock market winners list as mega cap technology’s grip loosened and industries usually keyed to an expanding economy ran ahead.
Altogether it’s amounted to one of
the more extreme rotations of its kind.
The Russell 2000 has beaten the Nasdaq 100 by around 4 percentage points in the first five sessions of 2026, the second-best outperformance to start a year on record.
“It’s unclear at this point whether this is just a breather or a full rotation.
Markets are still trying to figure out a direction – economic data and forecasts are quite optimistic, but US markets have ripped for 3 years in a row,” said Paul Ticu at Calamos Investments.
“Question is whether this is just the market trying to decide on a direction – and potentially do more of the same, or the beginning of a broader rotation.”
Earnings growth for small-cap firms is poised to outpace large-caps after years of underwhelming fundamentals, according to Francis Gannon, co-chief investment officer at Royce Investment Partners.
“Small caps have the relative valuation story and they have the earnings story,” he said.
“It’ll be the beginning of a long cycle for small caps because they’ve been so out of favor since a long period of time.”
Defense names also outshone the broader market with Lockheed Martin Corp. and Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Inc. rising after the US president signaled plans to raise military spending to $1.5 trillion in 2027.
“We see this as an aspirational target to shape the direction of future legislative debates around appropriations,” says Evercore ISI’s Sarah Bianchi.
“Moving funds at this scale without Congress would be a massive stretch, even for this Administration.”
The rally in government debt hit pause.
The yield on 10- year Treasuries rose to 4.18% after announced layoffs at US companies dropped to a 17-month low in December, potentially easing fears of a sharper slowdown in the economy.
Weekly jobless claims rose less than expected.
“We see a bit of a profit-taking after a couple of days and I think geopolitical risk remains quite high,” said Nataliia Lipikhina, head of EMEA equity strategy at JPMorgan Private Bank.
“The market is now really positioning for the upcoming earnings season.”
Investors are also awaiting US payrolls data on Friday as they assess the likely path for interest rates this year.
Money markets are pricing in at least two quarter-point cuts.
Geopolitical tensions are high on the agenda too, with markets monitoring efforts to bring Greenland under Washington’s control and developments surrounding Venezuela.
“Markets are taking a breather after a strong start to 2026, and no one wants to add fresh risk ahead of Friday’s US jobs report,” said Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo Markets.
“The Fed debate isn’t settled yet, and regional security headlines are keeping positioning cautious.”
A selloff in precious metals slowed as silver pared a drop below $75 an ounce.
Investors have been positioning for an annual rebalancing of commodity indexes that will see futures contracts worth billions of dollars sold in the next few days.
Spot gold rebounded after dipping below $4,450 an ounce.
The yellow metal lost nearly 1% in the previous session.
What Bloomberg strategists say…
“Gold and silver are facing near-term pressure as investors prepare for annual commodity index rebalancing, adding a technical drag to strong rallies in precious metals.
They arrive when positioning remains stretched after record gains, increasing the risk that mechanical selling weighs on prices in the short term.”
—Nour Al Ali, Markets Live strategist.
Meanwhile, corporations and governments in the US, Europe and Asia have borrowed roughly $260 billion across currencies by the close of business on Wednesday, the highest tally on record for the comparable period, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
A further barrage of bond offerings is poised to push that number higher.
At least 23 issuers are expected to price bonds in Europe’s primary market, raising at least €51.8 billion ($60.4 billion), according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
In Asia, China announced plans to issue about $75 billion of bonds early this month.
Corporate News:
* ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp. and other US oil companies are examining what role they can play
* Paramount Skydance Corp. reaffirmed its offer to buy Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. for $30 a share, insisting its hostile bid is superior to one from Netflix Inc. despite multiple rejections by Warner Bros.’ board.
* Revolution Medicines shares fell after AbbVie says it’s not in talks to buy the cancer-drug developer.
* Samsung Electronics’s profit jumped a better-than-projected 208%, driven by surging global demand for AI servers that sharply lifted memory chip prices.
* Shell Plc said its oil trading performance significantly worsened in the fourth quarter as crude prices slumped.
* Tesco Plc’s shares slid around 7% after Britain’s largest supermarket chain posted softer-than-expected like-for-like growth in its core market over the Christmas period.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 was little changed as of 4:01 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.6%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6%
* The MSCI World Index fell 0.2%
* The Russell 2000 Index rose 1.1%
* S&P 500 Equal Weighted Index rose 0.9%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2%
* The euro fell 0.2% to $1.1651
* The British pound fell 0.2% to $1.3437
* The Japanese yen fell 0.1% to 156.97 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 0.2% to $90,840.25
* Ether fell 1.3% to $3,106.87
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced four basis points to 4.18%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced five basis points to 2.86%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined one basis point to 4.40%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 4.6% to $58.57 a barrel
* Spot gold rose 0.5% to $4,478.50 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Isabelle Lee, Andre Janse van Vuuren, Anand Krishnamoorthy, Kwaku Gyasi and Subrat Patnaik.
Have a lovely evening.
Be magnificent!
As ever,
Carolann
Truth will rise above falsehood as oil above water. –Miguel de Cervantes, 1547-1616.
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