12:14 PM EDT, 05/13/2025 (MT Newswires) -- The Toronto Stock Exchange is up 130 points at midday to a three-month high, with most sectors higher,

The biggest gainers are miners and energy, up 1.5% and 1.9%, respectively. Telecom, down 1.5%, is the biggest decliner, followed by healthcare, down 1%.

The resources heavy index has been buoyed by higher commodity prices. Oil traded higher for a fourth session early on Tuesday after China and the United States over the weekend agreed to a 90-day pause in their tariff battle. Gold prices rose early on Tuesday, moving higher while the dollar dropped off a month high as U.S. inflation slowed last month.

On trade, BMO Economics said moves towards a U.S.-China deal is "another step back toward a 'less-bad' outcome" and added "when sentiment is priced for much worse, that becomes very good news". BMO noted the deal effectively sets the weighted U.S. import tariff at around 10%, down from 26% by its estimates before the deal. Much, BMO said, is still to be determined with pending tariffs on other countries, potential sector-specific levies and the evolution of this deal after the 90-day lifespan. "But, suffice it to say that the market is probably seeing this now all land at a somewhat manageable level; even if that level is notably worse than it was before this spat started," the bank added.

In terms of data, Rosenberg Research noted the 'thaw' in the U.S.-China trade file didn't happen soon enough to get captured in the NFIB small-business sentiment index, which just came out for April. The bad news: the headline softened to 95.8 from 97.4, which is a "decent-sized move" for this barometer. The good news is that the index still managed to top downbeat consensus views of a 95.0 print. Still, the research said, this was the fourth straight decline to a six month low. "Interestingly," it added, "in the same month that had Liberation Day on the 2nd and then the reprieve on the 9th, the "uncertainty" index dropped to 92.0 from 96.0 in March and 104.0 in February. Still, a level of uncertainty, mind you, that is some +40% above the historical norm."

Veteran market watcher, David Rosenberg, in a separate note said: "Market sentiment has improved but not excessively so. This could help the risk-on trade further over the near-term -- valuations may be a headwind but one cannot lay claim that investors have become overly exuberant."