Canadian equities posted their first weekly advance in a month after weeks of volatility tied to a deepening trade dispute between Canada and the United States, with shares tied to infrastructure spending leading the rebound.
The S&P/TSX 60 Index had fallen 2.4% over the prior 30 days as tensions between the two countries escalated. Talks between the U.S. and Canada broke down on August 22, 2026, and Canada responded on September 8 with a “dollar-for-dollar” retaliatory tariff. Major Canadian exports such as oil, gas, and gold were excluded from the tariff measures, but the dispute still weighed on broader market sentiment, with the TSX 60 sliding 3.3% between September 3 and 10.
Investor Summit Sparks a Rebound
Sentiment shifted after Prime Minister Mark Carney hosted Canada’s first Investor Summit on September 15, shortly after the retaliatory tariffs were announced. The summit secured commitments of $500 billion in investment directed at critical infrastructure spanning digital technology, energy, and transportation. Carney has said he is aiming to draw more than $1 trillion in investment over the next five years.
Following the summit, the TSX 60 recovered 1.9% between September 16 and 22. Stocks tied to three broad areas — artificial intelligence data centres, industrial equipment, and raw materials — saw gains of between 5% and 20% over the week of September 16 to 23.
AI Data Centre Names Rally
Among the biggest movers were companies linked to AI infrastructure buildout. Bell Canada and the Government of Saskatchewan announced a partnership to build a 1.2-gigawatt AI infrastructure hub, representing a total investment of $52.5 billion. The announcement lifted shares of Celestica, which supplies Ethernet switches and custom server racks to large-scale cloud providers and already does original design manufacturing work with Google, OpenAI, and Advanced Micro Devices.
Bitcoin mining firms Hut 8 and Hive Digital Technologies also contributed to the sector’s rally, as both companies have been repurposing crypto-mining infrastructure toward AI data centres and energy projects. Hive is working with Bell Canada on AI infrastructure, while Hut 8 has partnerships with several cloud computing companies. All three stocks had pulled back between June and August amid concerns that AI investment was slowing, after Anthropic and OpenAI both indicated they were tempering development pace to address global AI regulatory questions.
Industrial Equipment and Construction Stocks Gain
Separately, Carney announced a new Productivity Mega Deduction, which would let businesses deduct 100% of the cost of eligible capital investment, including machinery and equipment. The measure boosted shares of 5N Plus, a manufacturer of specialty semiconductors and materials used in renewable energy, security, space, pharmaceutical, medical imaging, and industrial applications, which has seen demand tied to space solar power and bismuth-based products used in quantum computing and thin electronics.
Hammond Power Solutions, which makes transformers for data centres, oil and gas, mining, and other industrial uses, also rose amid a broader cyclical rally connected to increased oil and gas production, as did Toromont Industries, which sells and leases equipment across sectors including road building, mining, telecommunications, and food processing. All three industrial names had also corrected in late August and early September as the trade dispute unfolded.
Construction and engineering firms rounded out the rally, with Aecon Group, Bird Construction, and Badger Infrastructure Solutions all posting gains tied to growing infrastructure order books. Bird is building a 300-megawatt data centre for Bell Canada in Saskatchewan, while Aecon is involved in the Darlington nuclear plant project and is deploying gigabit fibre service for Bell Canada.
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