12:18 PM EDT, 04/02/2026 (MT Newswires) -- The Toronto Stock Exchange is up 60 points at midday with most sectors higher.

The best performers are energy (+1.4%) and technology (+1%).

Limiting gains is the telecoms sector, which is down 3%.

Net trade will likely act as a drag on first-quarter real GDP growth in Canada, both TD Bank and CIBC said after the release of February's trade data on Thursday. Statistics Canada said the country's trade deficit with the world widened to $5.7 billion in February from $4.2 billion in January, the largest deficit since August of last year.

Economist Marc Ercolao at TD said total trade activity in February was "strong across the board", representing a sharp reversal from the prior month. But with import volumes outpacing exports over the last two months, net trade will likely "act as a drag" on Q1 real GDP growth. Still, Ercolao added, the recent "meteoric" rise in oil prices will boost nominal trade momentum in March and April, which should help narrow Canada's trade deficit. Ercolao noted the upcoming CUSMA review, due by July 1, is a key risk to the Canadian outlook.

While agreeing the net trade figure released Thursday by Statistics Canada will likely be "a negative" for Q1 GDP due to a surge in imports, Andrew Grantham, senior economist at CIBC Capital Markets, said that's also "likely a sign of restocking following the inventory drawdown that was a large drag on GDP in the previous quarter." Two-way trade rebounded strongly in February but, with import growth eclipsing that of exports, the trade deficit widened unexpectedly. The $5.7 billion shortfall was wider than a revised $4.2 billion deficit in the prior month and came against forecasts for a narrowing to $2.5 billion, Grantham added. Trade in gold was once again influential in driving the headline figures, although excluding that trade, imports and exports were still up by a solid 5.8% and 5.5% respectively. Export growth was headed by a rebound in auto trade (+24% vs -21% in January) as prolonged retooling shutdowns negatively impacted the prior month, although the other broad categories of exports also posted increases.

Morningstar Canada published a note entitled 'Best- and Worst-Performing Canadian Stocks' in which it said Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) and Suncor (SU.TO) rank among the best stocks in Q1 2026, while the worst include Shopify (SHOP.TO) and Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO).