TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index rose 1.5 per cent Thursday, helped by gains in materials and technology stocks, as U.S. markets also gained ground.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 541.51 points at 36,633.12.

Allan Small, senior investment adviser at iA Private Wealth, said that the materials sector benefited from gains in gold prices, which rose on the back of U.S. interest rate expectations. The December gold contract was up US$125.30 at US$4,539.90 an ounce.

“Seems like everything’s working and gold is up and materials are up because of this notion that maybe the Fed won’t have to raise rates in September,” he said.

Small pointed to comments from U.S. Federal Reserve governor Christopher Waller that suggested a rate hike from the central bank later this month is not a done deal. Stock prices rose and bond yields fell in response.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 624.16 points at 53,686.11. The S&P 500 index was up 81.11 points at 7,747.71, while the Nasdaq composite was up 366.23 points at 26,584.06.

On Friday, investors will be watching the release of the latest jobs numbers for August from Statistics Canada. A Reuters poll of economists predicts employers added 15,000 jobs last month, while the unemployment rate is expected to stay the same at 6.4 per cent, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

Small said the jobs figures will be important data for investors weighing what the Bank of Canada will focus on.

“The Bank of Canada is on hold, but if we start to see inflation moving higher and if jobs can stay strong, that might give the Bank of Canada the opportunity to raise rates,” Small said.

“But if we see a weaker jobs number out of Canada tomorrow, that may then mean that the Bank of Canada doesn’t have the wiggle room to be able to raise rates because they’re worried about the growth side of things.”

The central bank held its benchmark interest rate steady at 2.25 per cent Wednesday in a move that was widely expected by economists.

Meanwhile, in the oil market, prices ticked higher as the six-month-long U.S. war with Iran intensified. The October crude oil contract was up 29 cents US at US$91.30 per barrel.

Iran fired at Kuwait on Thursday in retaliation for U.S. bombardments earlier in the week. The fighting between the U.S. and Iran heated up after the U.S. hit Iranian rocket launchers Sunday on an island in the Strait of Hormuz, saying Iran was planning to use them to send mines into the waterway.

The Canadian dollar traded for 72.52 cents US compared with 72.13 cents US on Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 3, 2026.

— With files from The Associated Press

Companies in this story: (TSX: GSPTSE, TSX: CADUSD)

Daniel Johnson, The Canadian Press