12:19 PM EDT, 05/08/2025 (MT Newswires) -- The Toronto Stock Exchange is up 176 points at midday, with all sectors higher.

The biggest gainers are energy (+3.2%) and miners (+2.1%), followed by healthcare (+2%).

Oil prices rose early on Thursday amid hopes around a cooling of trade tensions as the United States readies for tariff talks with China, while the Trump Administration reached a trade deal with the United Kingdom. But gold traded lower for a second day as planned weekend talks between the U.S. and China eased safe-haven demand, while the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady in a day-prior decision, pushing the dollar higher.

On the global trade front, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with Britain, saying 'final details' are still to come. What is expected is that the agreement will cut U.S. tariffs on most imports of British steel and vehicles, paving the way for talks on a broader deal.

Desjardins also noted that the Bank of Canada's annual Financial Stability Report released today suggested that a prolonged trade war could severely test the resilience of the domestic financial system.

Separately, Desjardins noted the 2025 iteration of the FSR provided fresh simulations on upcoming mortgage renewals. It said: "The central bank says that 60% of outstanding mortgages will renew this year and in 2026. That said, the pain won't be felt evenly, with just 60% of those borrowers renewing facing a payment increase. Mortgage holders renewing mortgages originated within the past few years will see their payments decline."

"Conversely," Desjardins added, "those with five-year fixed-rate debt will see large payment increases, albeit somewhat less than what was expected at the time of the 2024 FSR." Desjardins noted it looks like more than 90% of five-year fixed-rate mortgages will face payments smaller than what they were stress-tested for. "That still likely means that those households will have to pull back on spending elsewhere, but they should be able to keep up to date with their mortgage debt service."

Desjardins said it looks like the reason for the "sanguine outlook" for variable-rate fixed-payment mortgage renewals is not the result of averaging different tenors up for renewal. "Instead," it added, "the central bank seems to have looked at only 5-year variable-rate fixed payment mortgages, but updated the simulations to incorporate additional payments households have made over-and-above the mandated fixed payment. As a result, some households have already been paying more than they were at origination. While this still hides pockets of vulnerability where borrowers have not made any extra payments, it is more positive for the economic outlook versus our initial interpretation of the data."