12:18 PM EDT, 07/29/2025 (MT Newswires) -- The Toronto Stock Exchange, which was up 130 points in earlier trade, hitting an intra-morning high of 27,528, has ceded some of its gains and is now 55 points higher, to 27,471.

The biggest gainers are info tech (+1.7%) and healthcare (+1.2%).

Miners, down 1.2%, is the biggest decliner.

BMO Economics in its morning note said officials from the U.S. and China are in Stockholm for day two of negotiations. Although neither side has made any formal statements, Commerce Secretary Harold Lutnick seems optimistic that another 90-day pause is likely.

BMO added that there is some momentum after last weekend's U.S.-EU deal, despite some details still needing to be ironed out. BMO noted that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke to the media yesterday and reiterated his talking points on Canada-U.S. negotiations. Namely, that negotiations will take time and Canada's likely going to end up with some tariff, while stressing that the EU-U.S. relationship is different than the Canada-U.S. relationship. "In other words: be patient," BMO said.

'Patience' is also a key word to keep in mind ahead of tomorrow's Fed and Bank of Canada updates, BMO added.

Morningstar said the Bank of Canada is widely expected to hold its key interest rate at 2.75%, amid a June rebound in the labor market, less than feared economic deterioration from U.S. tariffs, and "still sticky" core inflation. Still, it added that some market watchers expect cuts could restart as soon as September. The futures market was assigning less than a 10% chance of an interest rate cut, and was leaning toward. but not fully pricing, a single 25 basis point cut by year end. The Bank last cut interest rates in March, following six consecutive cuts starting in the summer of 2024, which brought the policy rate from its peak of 5.00% to 2.75%.

In stocks, Air Canada ( ACDVF ) is down 14% to $18.96 on the Toronto Stock Exchange, with near 7.3 million shares changing hands, more than double its average daily trading volume of 3.4 million shares.