12:19 PM EDT, 07/03/2025 (MT Newswires) -- The Toronto Stock Exchange is up near 110 points at midday, after earlier hitting an intra-day record high of 27,007.

Most sectors are higher, with info tech (+1.6%) and financials (+0.8%), leading gains.

Commodities are in the red, with miners, down 1.2%, and energy, down 0.8%.

On the domestic front, focus was on the release of the latest Canadian trade data. Katherine Judge at CIBC said Thursday an upwardly revised deficit and "sizeable" decline in exports for April means that "net trade will be a drag on growth over the second quarter as a whole and will remain under pressure until trade negotiations progress."

Judge noted Canada's international trade deficit narrowed from the prior month's record level, but remained elevated at $5.9 billion in May. She said that reflected a 1.1% month over month increase in exports, which was concentrated largely in unwrought gold shipments to the UK. Exports to the U.S. continued to decline for a fourth consecutive month (-0.9% m/m), with shipments to other countries reaching a record high level.

She also noted the 1.6% drop in total imports included declines in five of 11 product sections, with a large drop in unwrought gold a main factor, compounding a 5.3% drop in autos, with total imports from the U.S. down by 1.2%.

Meanwhile, Rosenberg Research noted the Canadian stock market was one of the few in recent months to reach a record high, and the loonie has performed very well against the greenback as well. In particular, the research said, investors have been giving the Mark Carney electoral win a "thumbs up" and it added full-page articles like the one in the Financial Times today is "very likely to reinforce the positive market tone", even with the domestic economy caught between stagnation and contraction. "As we are seeing state-side, the economy has taken a back seat to sentiment," the research said. In noting Canada's bid to become an energy superpower, Rosenberg Research added an LNG boom may finally be in the offing.

Separately, Rosenberg Research noted Prime Minister Mark Carney abandoning the Digital Services tax just before it was about to go into effect, leading Trump to announce the restart of trade talks. "Many in Canada's business community were no friends of the tax and are happy to see it go -- and we have a hunch that Carney is shedding no tears himself. Indeed, the Liberals could have fixed this tax weeks earlier, but they seem to have held onto it as a bargaining chip," the research added.

It added: "We still see a stable U.S.-Canada framework as the most likely outcome, but negotiations could drag on until the fall (further dampening investment at a time of peak fragility for Canada's economy)."