Small Caps Extend Strength as Russell 2000 Leads for Second Straight Session

The Canadian Vanguard Stock Market Report – Thursday December 4, 2025 Edition

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The Toronto Market

The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 317.03 points (1.02%) to close at 31,160.54. The TSX nearly tripled yesterday’s gain, extending the momentum that began late Tuesday afternoon. Trading volume also increased for a second consecutive day, giving investors added confidence in the strength of the market’s advance. Typically, investors like to see rising volume accompany market gains, as it reinforces the credibility of the upward movement.

                                                                                                                                                                                         

Toronto’s Market Statistics
At the TSX, advancing issues outnumbered declining issues by roughly six to five. There were 1,114 advancers and 924 decliners, resulting in an advancer-to-decliner ratio of 1.2 to 1, with 148 issues unchanged.

The market recorded 187 new 52-week highs and 15 new 52-week lows, compared with 143 new highs and 12 new lows yesterday.

Total trading volume on the TSX reached 457,747,783 shares, a 2% increase from the 449,624,065 shares traded yesterday.

Toronto Market Wrap-Up Report 

The TSX extended its bullish momentum, with Technology and Financials leading sector performance. Defensive sectors—Telecommunications Services and Utilities—lagged, reflecting improving risk appetite. Utilities was the only sector to close in negative territory, reinforcing the rotation away from traditional safety assets.

Financials continued to show notable strength, particularly the major Canadian banks. Royal Bank of Canada has been consistently posting new 52-week highs in recent sessions. Today, both Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSX: TD) and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (TSX: CM) joined the trend, also marking new 52-week highs. This leadership was echoed in U.S. markets, where Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs also recorded fresh 52-week highs.

Notable Movers — Financials

• Royal Bank (TSX: RY): +2.48% (+$5.42) to $224.06; volume 4.7M
• CIBC (TSX: CM): +4.15% (+$5.03) to $126.30; volume 6M
• TD Bank (TSX: TD): +2.03% (+$2.39) to $120.09; volume 6.9M

Notable Movers — Technology, Infrastructure, Energy

• Cameco (TSX: CCO): +5.2% (+$6.49) to $131.31; volume 1.27M
• Celestica (TSX: CLS): +4.63% (+$19.94) to $450.09; volume 512k
• Shopify (TSX: SHOP): +1.58% (+$3.54) to $226.67; volume 1M
• Badger Infrastructure Solutions (TSX: BDGI): +4.28% (+$3.12) to $75.96; volume 187k

Overall, sector rotation, strong participation from Financials, and continued resilience in key growth and infrastructure names point to a market with firm underlying momentum.

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The US Markets

Market Indexes 
U.S. equities ended mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 31.96 points (-0.07%) to 47,850.94, reflecting mild large-cap weakness. The S&P 500 posted a marginal gain of 7.40 points (+0.11%) to 6,857.12, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 51.04 points (+0.22%) to 23,505.14, showing moderate strength in growth names.

Small caps outperformed, with the Russell 2000 rising 19.02 points (+0.76%) to 2,531.16. The index remained the session’s top performer, reinforcing the recent rotation toward smaller-cap risk assets, with the Nasdaq trailing as the next strongest contributor.

       

U.S. Market Statistics

NYSE: Market breadth was slightly positive, with advancers narrowly exceeding decliners (2,205 vs. 2,090), producing a modest 1.05:1 breadth ratio. New 52-week highs surged to 351 from 123, while new lows rose to 62 from 18, indicating a broad expansion in upside breakouts alongside a modest increase in downside prints.
Total NYSE volume reached 4.97B shares, a 2% increase from yesterday, offering incremental confirmation of the session’s mixed-but-constructive tone.

NASDAQ: NASDAQ breadth skewed bullish, with a 1.38:1 advancer-to-decliner ratio (2,760 vs. 1,995), consistent with the index’s relative outperformance. New 52-week highs rose to 211 (from 193), while new lows declined sharply to 65 (from 118), signaling improving internal momentum.
Total NASDAQ volume fell 6% to 7.69B shares, suggesting the risk-on tilt occurred on lighter participation than yesterday.

Commodities:  

Oil Price:     Crude Oil price was at $59.57 per barrel, as of the time (11:30 pm EDT, Thursday) of this post update.

Gold price is up $12.20, or 0.29%, at $4,255.20 per troy ounce, while silver price is up $1.34, or 2.34%, at $58.83 per ounce as of the time of this post update.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) continued its rebound and was trading at $92,423.10 up $129.24 or 0.14% as of the time of this post update.

10 –year Treasury Yield:  US Treasury yields were higher today.  The 10-year yield is at 4.098%, as of the time (11:30 pm EDT, Thursday) of this post update.

After-hours action:  Stock Futures are up slightly Thursday evening. Dow Futures is up 29.00 points or 0.06% vs. fair value. S&P 500 futures is up 14.50 points or 0.20% at 6,880.25 and Nasdaq 100 futures is up 90.00 points or 0.35% at 25,713.50 as of the time (11:30pm EDT, Thursday) of this post update.

Note: The markets’ performance during the regular market session often bear little or no semblance to the futures readings the previous evening. Please use as data applicable at the time of capture only.

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(c) This article is published by The Canadian Vanguard on December 4, 2025