Positive Start Likely On Bay Street

(RTTNews) - Canadian shares look headed for a positive start Thursday morning amid prospects of further easing by the Bank of Canada and the Federal Reserve this year. Weak oil and gold prices may weigh a bit and limit market's upside.

In Canadian economic news, small business sentiment in Canada increased to 50.20 points in September from 47.80 points in August of 2025, according to a report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

The Canadian market ended roughly flat on Wednesday despite the Canadian central bank and the U.S. Federal Reserve lowering their interest rates by 25 basis points, as widely expected. The Fed also signaled two more rate cuts this year.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index climbed to an intraday high of 29,465.14, but shed gains amid high volatility and eventually settled at 29,321.66, up by just 6.43 points or 0.02%.

Asian stocks ended mostly lower on Thursday following a slightly hawkish leaning policy decision from the Federal Reserve.

Investors reacted to hawkish comments from Fed Chair Powell, who said higher goods prices are feeding through to inflation and that the FOMC expects inflation to continue to build into next year.

Chinese shares fell sharply amid trade tensions after China's internet regulator banned domestic tech companies from purchasing Nvidia's RTX Pro 6000D chips.

The major European markets are up in positive territory, reacting to Fed's rate cut move, and prospects of more monetary easing this year.

In commodities trading, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures are down $0.25 or 0.39% at $63.80 an ounce.

Gold futures are down $11.50 or 0.31% at $3,706.30 an ounce, while Silver futures are up $0.063 or 0.15% at $42.215 an ounce.